[Ambulatory treatment of psychiatric diseases among the deaf in Denmark].

An account has been prepared describing the psychiatric treatment of preverbally deaf adults in Denmark during the period 01.01.1986 to 31.12.1991, as well as an analysis of these patients with regard to demographic and psychiatric characteristics. During this period 1231 outpatient treatments were recorded, pertaining to 168 patients. A total of 1.9-2.8% of the deaf adult population received specialised psychiatric treatment per year, either under hospitalization or as out-patients. The most dominant psychiatric diagnoses were functional psychoses (21%), serious personality disorders (25%) and affect reactions (15%). The educational levels and occupational circumstances og these patients were of a much lower standard than those of deaf adults in general. During the course of the investigation period a restructuring has taken place at the National Institution for the Deaf which has enabled a significant reduction in the duration of hospitalization in the Department of Psychiatry for the Deaf. The Institution for the Deaf now permanently accommodates 55 of the previously mentioned 168 out-patients (33%). This reorganisation has resulted in changes in the methods of treatment in the Department of Psychiatry for the Deaf towards hospitalizations of shorter duration for the treatment of acute exacerbations of serious psychiatric disorders as well as of forensic psychiatric patients.