GRIESINGER,WILHELM AND THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY CARE IN 19TH-CENTURY GERMANY

Wilhelm Griesinger, a 19th-century German physician, can be considered one of the founders Of the concept of community-based care for mental ly ill patients. In an era when such patients typically spent most of their lives in asylums in remote rural areas, he recommended their int egration into society and proposed that short-term treatment of acutel y ill patients could be carried out in asylums that were located in ci ties and linked to general hospitals. He believed that short-term hosp italization could be effective only if Professional and natural suppor t systems cooperated closely. Although he did not assume that all ment al illnesses could be cured, he thought that most patients should be d ischarged from long-term treatment in remote asylums. For those unable to live without support in the community, he suggested setting up she ltered living conditions, Although his ideas about community-based car e were rejected by his contemporaries in.favor of a system Of rural as ylums, many of Dr. Griesinger's suggestions are now being put into pra ctice.