Clinical treatment with patient-units the psychiatric ward of a general hospital
In the last decades several articles describing a therapeutic community were published. However, little is known about the application of such a therapeutic system to the psychiatric ward ot a general hospital. In the usual form it is not suited to such a ward because of the heterogeneous population and the short stay of the patients. At the general hospital 'St. Hippolytus' in Delft (Holland), the therapeutic community-system was adjusted to it's psychiatrie ward. The population is divided in units of about ten patients, each one as homogeneous as posible. In this way group-treatment becomes possible, With regard to patients and staff, the 'basic principles' of the therapeutic community-system (democracy, nondirectivity, etc.) are put into practice as far as possible. In this article the system at the ward is compared to the therapeutic community-system, and a description is given of the process of change from the old to the new system. Advantages and disadvantages are discuseed.