Reassessing the revolving door: a developmental perspective on the young adult chronic patient

Recent literature has described the young adult chronic patient as a subgroup of the chronically mentally ill whose high demand for a variety of mental health services places a strain on the delivery system. This paper suggests that the revolving door syndrome reflects deficits among the target population at three different levels: intrapsychic, dyadic, and societal. A treatment program that includes strategies responsive to the deficits at each level is described.