A description of Walter Reed Army Medical Center's in-patient psychiatric service population 1973 to 1975.

A three-year evaluation of demographic and diagnostic patterns in a large Army psychiatric in-patient facility is described. Active duty personnel accounted for 83.6 percent of patient episodes. No simple catchment area could be defined for this facility. Active duty patient episodes tended to be with younger, junior enlisted men whose sicknesses were most frequently diagnosed as schizophrenia. The diseases of blacks were diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia more frequently than in whites. Latent schizophrenia or undifferentiated schizophrenia were diagnosed more frequently in whites than in blacks. The illnesses of active duty female military personnel were more frequently diagnosed as neurotic than as schizophrenic. Of the patient episodes during the three-year period, 12.1 percent were about dependents. They were usually the wives of older, senior enlisted men or senior officers and they stayed an average of 12 days in the hospital. On the other hand, 4.3 percent of the patient episodes were about retired personnel. They came from Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) as did their dependents, and the most frequent diagnosis was alcoholism. Their median stay was 15 days. Subsequent studies will attempt to further clarify these initial findings.