Crisis Intervention and Prevention of Psychiatric Disability: A Follow-Up Study
J. BARRY DECKER M.D.1, and
J. M. STUBBLEBINE M.D.2
1 Program Chief, Community Mental Health Services, Department of Public Health, 101 Grove St., San Francisco, Calif. 94102
2 Director, California State Department of Mental Hygiene, Sacramento, Calif.
Two groups of young adults were followed for two and a half years after their first psychiatric hospitalizations. The first group received traditional modes of treatment; the second group was hospitalized after the institution of a crisis intervention program. The authors compared the outcomes of the two groups to test whether crisis intervention could reduce long-term hospital dependency without producing alternate forms of psychological or social dependency. They found that crisis intervention did reduce hospitalization throughout the second group's follow-up period without an increase in other indices of disability.
