Case management in mental health. The pendulum still swings.

This article surveys the practice of case management in mental health treatment both historically and in its current form. Case management, along with mental health treatment in the United States, is a pendulum that swings in the motion of prevailing societal values, monetary considerations, and problem-solving philosophies. It is unclear whether case management services are solving the problems they target, nor can we determine just how long it might take for the pendulum to swing from community care back to institutional settings.