19 Years later: a mental hygiene clinic revisited--a comparison of three methods to describe a clinic caseload

This is a replication of a 1956 study that compared three ways to describe the case load of a mental hygiene clinic. The methods used were to follow-up of a cohort group, cases closed, and a survey of all active cases. In 1975, as compared to 1956, it was found that patients are more likely to be psychotic, to be receiving psychotropic drugs, and to stay in treatment much longer. Rate of improvement declined slightly. The number of patients increased by 166% and the annual number of patient visits increased by 84%, with about the same size staff. Some hypotheses for these changes are discussed.