Community care : examining the trend

Abstract EN

The concept of community psychiatric care emerged in recent years as a revolutionary idea aiming at the closure of the large isolated mental institutions and the transfer of care to a locally based accessible and humane environment.

The paper reviews the ideological background to this concept with particular reference to the impact of the antipsychiatric movement on modern psychiatric practice and the role of economical and political factors in determining the style of delivery of psychiatric care.

The author describes and attempts to critically evaluate some of the community programs in this respect drawing on the Italian, American and British experiences.