The psychiatric unit as a dynamic model for change.

The concept of the psychiatric unit as a social system, with staff members and patients working together to pursue a number of functions, is a departure from the disease model and the classic patient-doctor dyadic relationship. The organization of a psychiatric unit as a social system can facilitate an atmosphere that promotes a corrective emotional experience for patients and a positive emotional climate for the staff. The various ways in which social organization and environment can effect clinical change are described.