Current and emerging models of residential psychiatric treatment, with special reference to the California situation

The author reviews the steps that have led to the progressive deemphasis of psychiatric hospitalization in California and surveys the empirical basis for rejecting the usefulness of hospitalization. He discusses the four alternative residential models that have emerged in California as substitutes for state mental hospitals--general hospital psychiatric units, board and care homes, private psychiatric facilities available through vendor contracts, and convalescent hospitals. The author also touches briefly upon some important problems, including the possible fate of public general hospital psychiatric units, community mental health services, and the commitment law in California.