A psychiatric unit serving an international community

General hospital psychiatric units in "gateway cities" frequently serve both a local resident population and a community of diplomats and international travelers. The psychiatric unit of a private general hospital in Washington, D.C., serves Foreign Service officials and their families stationed overseas and foreign diplomats stationed in the nation's capital as well as local residents. The international community has helped shape the service philosophy of the unit toward an individualistic model with close ties to the medical and surgical units. Several brief case studies describe the effects an expatriate life style and a transcultural milieu can have on typical mental illnesses.