From general day hospital treatment to specialized treatment programmes

Approximately one third of day hospitals in Europe can be designated as predominantly psychotherapeutic. They address mainly patients with personality disorders (PD), but also eating disorders and chronic mood and anxiety disorders without PD. As day treatment programmes tend to become associated with mental health centers, their treatment intensity also tends to become reduced. Available data suggest that approximately 10 hours of treatment a week is sufficient. Is such treatment more effective than specialized outpatient treatment? This research question will probably set the agenda in the years to come. In response to this challenge, day treatment should become more specialized. Data from the Norwegian Network of Psychotherapeutic Day Hospitals (n = 2.205) demonstrate that the majority of day treatment patients suffer from borderline and avoidant PD. Programmes for patients with borderline PD are well developed. The authors call for programme development for patients with avoidant PD.