[Problem of identification of the mentally ill and community tolerance of them]

The paper is concerned with one of the aspects of recognition of mental patients, namely with the community tolerance to them. Altogether 209 unregistered patients and the same number of analogous patients registered at the dispensary were examined to reveal factors that interfered with the formers' application for psychiatric aid. Apart from the clinical problems, the examination program included exploration of the parameters characterizing the patient's microsocial environment. It was established that the community tolerance to the patients was determined not only by the mental disease severity but also by factors such as material-household and occupational conditions, the educational and cultural level of the family members, etc. The relationships between the patients' not taking into sufficient account with less favourable conditions of microsocial environment suggests that the community tolerance to the mental patients should be primarily regarded as a negative phenomenon.