The custodial hospital as a community resource for psychiatric treatment.

Custodial practices in mental hospitals are usually regarded as antitherapeutic and inimical to treatment objectives. This conclusion arises from the failure to distinguish between custodial organization and custodial goals. It is the existence of the latter that subverts the treatment effort. This paper describes the use of a custodial hospital setting for psychiatric treatment purposes and suggests that elaborate intramural therapy routines may not be necessary to the rehabilitation of patients.