Chronic mental patient: current status--future directions.

The "hard core" group of chronically hospitalized mental patients still fill most hospital beds, and are not participants in the current upsurge in discharge rates. Target areas for rehabilitation of this population are suggested on the basis of a review of institutional studies within an interactional framework. A review of institutional treatment research suggests that "milieu" and "social learning" approaches, combined with special community aftercare procedures, offer the greatest promise for the future. Both approaches appear sufficiently promising to call for controlled comparative investigations. A program combining features of both milieu and social learning approaches is suggested for the interim.