Abstract
Differences in patterns of utilization of psychiatric services were studied in 178 adult outpatients who either had dropped out of, or had terminated from treatment with the consent of their therapists. The Monroe County Psychiatric Case Register was employed to determine the use of psychiatric services by these patients within a period of two years before and two years after their admission to a community mental health center (CMHC). Dropping out of treatment was associated with a pattern of utilization of multiple psychiatric facilities. Of those individuals who made contact with a psychiatric facility both prior to and subsequent to their admission to the CMHC, the dropout group made, on the average, approximately twice as many contacts per person as the terminator group.
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Additional information
Mr. Carpenter is a clinical psychology graduate student at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Del Gaudio was, until his untimely death in August 1978, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology); and Dr. Morrow is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology and Oncology) at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. All reprint requests should be directed to Paul J. Carpenter, P.O. Box 8482, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39401.
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Carpenter, P.J., Del Gaudio, A.C. & Morrow, G.R. Dropouts and terminators from a community mental health center: Their use of other psyciatric services. Psych Quart 51, 271–279 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01082830
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01082830