The optimum principle in community psychiatry.

In community psychiatry, just as in dynamic psychotherapy, aiming too high may be just as ineffective as setting too minimal goals. In this article, causes and effects of maximalistic and minimalistic attitudes in therapists, community workers and their patients are discussed. The optimum principle and the optimal preventive and therapeutic approaches are presented at a theoretical level. Three clinical examples, where therapeutic techniques based on the optimum principle were applied, are described in detail.