Young adult chronic patients: three hypothesized subgroups.

Shortly after the 1963 passage of the Community Mental Health Centers Act, New York State launched the construction of four new psychiatric centers, including the Richard H. Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse. The Hutchings acute care crisis stabilization model was intended to significantly diminish the phenomenon of chronic psychiatric disability. After a decade of operation, however, the Hutchings Center must deal with a caseload of young and chronically disabled individuals who are contributing to the build-up both in the hospital and in the community of the new long-stay patient. The idiosyncratic needs of this chronic group must be defined so that prescriptive programs can be built to meet their needs. The Hutchings Center's original goal of returning patients to and serving them in the community remains the same, but the process of treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term community support must change.