COMMUNITY CARE - SAME PROBLEMS, DIFFERENT EPITHET

A negative image of community care prevails. This method of care is pe rceived to be a relatively novel phenomenon and has received mixed med ia coverage. The negative image of community care has led to the growi ng belief that this care method has failed. This failure has largely b een ascribed to the lack of powers available to control patients in th e community and to the method's relative novelty. However, this paper contends that there are two paws to the above assertion: first, commun ity care is far from new, and second, the inherent problem is not the lack of powers available to control patients in the community, but, es sentially, the absence of a secure and stable environment within the c ommunity.