The Chestnut Lodge follow-up study. I. Follow-up methodology and study sample.

Chestnut Lodge is a small, private psychiatric hospital in Rockville, Md, specializing in the long-term residential treatment of severely ill (and usually chronic) psychotic and borderline patients. Four hundred forty-six (72%) of the patients treated at Chestnut Lodge between 1950 and 1975 were followed up an average of 15 years later. This first report details the rationale and methods for this investigation.