Informing the patient: What social science research can tell the adolescent mental patient

The pioneer research and theoretical formulations of the psychiatric sociologists during the last decade have demonstrated the critical influence social processes have in the drift toward mental patient careers. In this article, I propose that several of the important concepts and perspectives achieved by these research developments be incorporated into present institutional treatment programs by way of a social science education program which reflectively examines the interpretations of hospitalization fashioned by psychiatric sociologists.