PATHWAYS THROUGH PSYCHIATRIC-CARE - THE EXPERIENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC-PATIENTS

The aim of this project was to identify the pathway through psychiatri c care beyond the point of first admission. This was carried out from the point of view of users, considering the pathway as a set of subjec tive experiences. Fifty interviews were conducted with people undergoi ng psychiatric care in a range of service settings, using a semi-struc tured interview schedule. Although the research was initially conceptu alised in terms of pathways, the routes followed by patients proved to be too diffuse to be charted. Some patient careers were both prolonge d and erratic. Patients do not follow a definite pathway; rather, they move through a set of complex stages which are often unclear. If resp ondents lack a subjective sense of a pathway, they feel, at least in p art, that it is because they do not know what is happening.