Experience and Youth Group: for elderly and adolescent psychiatric patients.

Patients in a state psychiatric hospital often have little exposure to groups of various ages. This paper describes an occupational therapy group that brought together geriatric and adolescent mentally disabled patients to provide them with an opportunity to increase socialization skills, to practice role playing, and to explore authority relationships while working together on planned activities. In addition, the group leaders could stimulate expression of feeling and increased self-esteem.