SOME DRAWBACKS OF PSYCHIATRIC-SERVICES OR GANIZED BY CATCHMENT-AREA -A PLEA AGAINST SECTORIZATION

The author presents a critical and polemic essay bearing on the organi zation of psychiatric services based on catchment areas. Several negat ive consequences are discussed: the loss of initial goals related to c ommunity psychiatry, the adoption of a major first-line role for psych iatrists and the identification of psychiatrists to the treatment of c hronic and severe psychiatric disorders. Catchment area psychiatrists and psychiatric teams frequently function in a unique manner within th e medical profession, and their spreading throughout the community lea ds to the development of closed subcultures often characterized by res istance to change and a lack of academic motivation. Catchment area ps ychiatry is also described as generating crisis after crisis and as de trimental to the positive evolution of former mental hospitals.