Psychiatric treatment in a delimited population-with particular reference to outpatients. A demographic study.
The present investigation analyses the psychiatric service available to and utilized by a population in a geogrphically delimited area, namely the Randers area with a population of 108.928. During the period 1970-74, the average yearly rate of patients admitted to the three psychiatric institutions covering this area was per 1,000: 7.9 males and 9.1 females. During 1970-71, 1.2 males and 1.8 females per 1,000 were treated as outpatients in a psychiatric clinic affiliated to a psychiatric hospital, and a psychiatric outpatient clinic in a general hospital discharged 4.1 males and 7.7 females per 1,000. It seems probable that despite outpatient treatment the number of admissions increases slightly rather than decreases, and consequently, outpatient treatment cannot replace psychiatric admission.