[Patient transfer to and from psychiatric departments]

The most recent Danish literature which illustrates movements of patients into and out of psychiatric departments and outpatient clinics is reviewed. It is demonstrated that psychotic conditions play an increasing part in psychiatry and that a few quite well-defined patient groups are responsible for the greater part of employment of the psychiatric service and that there are frequently factors in the immediate environments of the patients on which the psychiatric departments and outpatient clinics have very little influence and which contribute to the extent to which a patient will conclude or continue the psychiatric treatment. It is emphasized that many aspects of the knowledge about patient movements in psychiatry are incompletely investigated.