Behavioral and psychodynamic approaches to milieu therapy in an adolescent day hospital

The day-hospital concept had its beginning in the 1930s and has gained greater impact in recent years because of changes in public-health policy and in traditional psychiatric attitudes. The main therapeutic medium of day hospitals is based on an original concept combining treatment and readaptation in a specially designed therapeutic milieu. A therapeutic milieu is built according to a given theoretical approach. At the Geha Psychiatric Hospital in Petah Tiqva, Israel, the day-care department for adolescents is built according to a combination of the behaviorist and psychoanalytical approaches.