SPECIALTY MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES IN METROPOLITAN AND NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS - 1983 AND 1990

This paper provides information about the changes between 1983 and 199 0 in the availability and volume of specialty mental health services i n counties with different levels of metropolitanization and urbanizati on, The analysis uses the 1983 county metropolitan and urbanization de signations for both 1983 and 1990 in order to obtain an accurate deter mination of the changes that occurred in the 7-year period, The result s indicate that during the study period, metropolitan counties experie nced increasing availability of specialty mental health services, whil e nonmetropolitan counties did not. Implications for future rural ment al health policy are discussed.