A comparative study of neurotics seen in a community mental health center and in private practice

Differences that emerge in comparisons of persons applying for psychiatric care at a mental health center with those applying to the private sector are comfounded by marked diagnostic differences beyond obvious social class differences. To circumvent that problem and to ascertain what differences, if any, persist after diagnosis is held constant, the authors examined demographic and psychosocial characteristics of neurotics in a one-year adult applicant population, the only major diagnostic group treated in large numbers and similar proportions by the center and the private sector. Findings showed that significantly more neurotic applicants in the private sector are medical referrals, are members of intact nuclear families, and do not have previous inpatient experience.