The therapeutic community in a county general hospital.

The past decade has witnessed an enlightened revision in the treatment of the mentally ill. The new approach purports that the hospitalized patient is more effectively treated in open units attached to general hospitals in the local community. Social interaction based on mutual trust and respect for the individual is facilitated in an atmosphere of enhanced communication potential. The improvement of patients in all diagnostic categories seems to justify the enthusiasm for advocating the therapeutic community philosophy in units of a general hospital.