EFFICACY OF PSYCHIATRIC DAY TREATMENT - COURSE AND OUTCOME OF PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDERS IN A RANDOMIZED TRIAL

The course of the psychopathology and social functioning- in an experi mental day-treatment group referred for inpatient psychiatric treatmen t is compared with that of a control group receiving standard inpatien t care. During a follow-up period of 2 years subjects were interviewed three times. The interview comprised information about psychiatric sy mptoms, psychological functions, psychiatric diagnosis and social-role functioning. Apart from these discrete assessments an effort was made to map episodes of illness throughout the follow-up period. Upon entr y the groups did not differ in terms of psychopathology or social func tioning. At follow-up both groups had improved significantly with resp ect to symptomatology. psychological and social functioning. The exten t to which the groups improved did not differ significantly regarding pathology, but self-care improved more in the experimental group. The average duration of episodes of illness was similar for the experiment al and control group. During the 2-year follow-up patients suffered fr om a well-defined disorder during an average of 11 months. The fact th at approximately 40% of them were still a psychiatric case after 2 yea rs further underscores the severity of their pathology.