Mother-child treatment within the framework of urban community psychiatricservice in psychiatric units attending heterogeneous patients in a generalhospital

Background: Described are mother-child treatments performed within the fram ework of regional maximum care at general psychiatric units not having such a treatments focus. Patients and methods: The new clinical concept with it s social and psychodynamic aspects is described. It provides realistic pers pectives for all involved. Last but not least it puts the child in a positi on as a helpful companion for the mother. Over a space of 5 years, 20 mothe r-child treatments were performed at four different wa rds. 12 mothers suff ered from schizophrenia (F20), 7 had depressive complaints (F32, F43), and one patient had a borderline personality disorder (F60). Treatments lasted an average of 10 weeks, all mothers retained their children. 76 patients we re sent home; 2 were referred to a mother-child facility; 1 patient was pla ced in a half-way home and another in a house for women, in both cases with offspring. Conclusion: Mother-child treatment under specific spatial condi tions is not only possible, but is an enrich ment for a II at general psych iatric units attending heterogeneous patients. The main requirement is a ce rtain level of treatment care, such as an established primary care track, a clinic team that is flexible and open to novel approaches and. as a result , willing to accept a certain level of stress as normal.