DIAGNOSTIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS SEEN IN OUTPATIENT PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS FOR AN ENTIRE STATE (MARYLAND): IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PSYCHIATRIST AND THE MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM PLANNER
ANITA K. BAHN Sc.D.1,
CAROLINE A. CHANDLER M.D.2, , and
LEON EISENBERG M.D., F.A.P.A.3
1 Chief, Outpatient Studies Section, Biometrics Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md.
2 Chief, Office of Mental Health and Child Health, Maryland State Department of Health, Baltimore, Md.
3 Associate Professor of Psychiatry, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
This study demonstrates the feasibility and utility of the routine collection of diagnostic and demographic data from all psychiatric outpatient clinics serving residents of a defined geographic area. These data added to existing mental hospital figures and supplemented by reports from private practicing psychiatrists and community agencies not under a psychiatrist's direction will provide a more complete identification of the community's mental health problems, an important step toward the ecology of mental illness.
