How and where people with serious mental illnesses are treated has changed a great deal since the 1800s. Describe how these changes occurred

Question

Then describe the current approach to treating people with severe mental illness, including those who require serious long-term care.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: A good answer will include the following key points.
? Prior to the 1950s, people with mental illness were usually kept in asylums.
? These asylums were often cruel and did not help patients get better. Instead, they were primarily for keeping people with mental illness away from the public.
? Starting in the 1950s the deinstitutionalization movement pushed to close asylums and return people with mental illness to their communities.
? Today, psychologists focus on outpatient treatment of people within the community. When people do need to be hospitalized for psychiatric problems, the goal is to evaluate and stabilize them as quickly as possible so they do not have to stay in the hospital.
? When patients do require more serious long-term care, many live in residential treatment centers, which allow patients to become integrated into society to the greatest extent possible.