Premium
Psychiatric Deinstitutionalization: A Sociocultural Analysis
Author(s) -
Estroff Sue E.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1981.tb00832.x
Subject(s) - sociocultural evolution , institutionalisation , perspective (graphical) , sociocultural perspective , psychology , psychiatry , medicine , sociology , artificial intelligence , anthropology , computer science
This paper analyzes deinstitutionalization and community treatment of psychiatric patients from a sociocultural perspective, discusses the social values and processes of the movement, and presents an overview of the experience of patients in the community. It argues that, in sociocultural terms, deinstitutionalization of the most needy patients has failed. Economic, clinical, and social hypotheses about why these failures have occurred are presented. The analysis suggests that deinstitutionalization has failed in large part because it did not address the sociocultural reasons for institutionalization.