Thomas S. Langner

Mental health after psychiatric treatment

Summary The average mental health level of a group of 223 psychiatric patients was found below that of a comparable nonpatient population of 1437 respondents. Forty patients considered to be currently seeing a psychiatrist were found to have a worse average mental health level than 183 patients in whom therapy had presumably been completed. The latter group contained 41.6 per cent patients who were given a mental health rating indicative of relatively good psychiatric adjustment with the implication that they had improved with treatment. The more impaired level of mental health in the patient group was not considered evidence of failure of treatment but rather interpreted as the minimal level of mental health functioning compatible with termination of psychiatric treatment.