[Indicators of social support in psychiatric patients admitted to a brief hospitalization unit]

This study constitutes an attempt to analyze the relationship between different characteristics of social support and mental illness. The subjects of the retrospective study were 164 consecutive admissions to the Short Hospitalization Unit of Area 3 during 1989, aged 15-65, who met ICD-9 diagnosis criteria for: Affective Disorders, Schizophrenic Psychosis, Psychogenic psychosis, and Alcoholic Dependence. Social Support was assessed using different characteristics of family system (marriage, familiar network size, level of expressed emotion), social network, and instrumental functioning.