Assertive community treatment: correcting some misconceptions

Discusses historical, policy, and research perspectives on assertive community treatment (ACT) and their relationship to 5 commentaries accompanying our recent article (Bond et al., 1990). Collectively, the commentaries focused on self-help groups, missing the point of the study. Further, the commentaries contained several misconceptions centering on a confusion between deliberate sampling based on policy-driven considerations and self-selection into voluntary organizations. In the time since the Stein and Test (1980) demonstration, programs based on ACT principles have become one of the dominant approaches to community mental health services, especially for consumers who do not readily use office-based treatment. The research foundation is robust and is rapidly evolving. Some community psychologists may be responding to outdated and inaccurate stereotypes of mental health services.