Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1513-1517
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Chronic crisis patients: a discrete clinical group
E Bassuk and S Gerson
Patients who made repeated visits to a psychiatric emergency ward and who
were studied appeared to comprise a discrete clinical group characterized
by a distinct symptom profile, common psychiatric history, and similar
styles of interacting with caretakers. They generally did not differ from
nonrepeater patients with regard to acute symptomatology but were
hospitalized more frequently. They were generally negativistic, had a
lengthy psychiatric history consisting of multiple inpatient
hospitalizations and current outpatient treatments, and had difficulty
establishing rapport with the emergency ward therapists, often evoking
intense feelings of dislike. The authors offer an approach to the
management of these patients based on an understanding of their cycle of
seeking and rejecting help.
