Change in the mental health field?

An analysis of the current roles of the federally funded community mental health center and the public mental hospital suggests that despite the rhetoric about a community mental health revolution, the mental field has yet to undergo significant change. Ideological, political, economic, and structural barriers-characteristics of the field itself-impede such change outside, inside, and across the centers and hospitals. Recent court decisions on patients' rights, however, have the potential for moving the field into a period where "bold new action" actually can occur.