A 10-Year Follow-Up of 55 Hospitalized Adolescents
ELIZABETH G. HERRERA M.S.W.,
BETTY GLASSER LIFSON M.S.W.1,
ERNEST HARTMANN M.D.2, , and
MAIDA H. SOLOMON 3
1 Psychiatric Social Worker, Lee County Mental Health Center, Cape Coral, Fla.
2 Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Medford, Mass.
3 Professor Emeritus, Simmons School of Social Work, and Consultant in Social Work, Boston State Hospital, Boston, Mass.
Fifty-five young adults hospitalized for mental illness were followed up 10 years after their discharge as a sequel to three earlier follow-up studies. The majority of subjects were still poorly adjusted. The area of greatest competence was in school and work, whereas social relationships were almost universally inadequate. Pre-admission variables most predictive of good long-range outcome were "chumship" and leadership experiences and healthy parental attitudes. The only therapeutic variables related to long-range outcome were those which described degree of illness. Evidence pointed strongly to the need for postdischarge vocational services for patients and therapy for parents.
