M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / The advances in psychopharmacology, as well as the establishment of various 'half-way houses' has changed the nature of psychiatric hospitals. Where once, the emphasis was on long-term, custodial care of patients, the, present emphasis is on short term care. Attempts are made to reintegrate patients into society as soon as possible. This approach has been partially successful. However, it appears that many patients, who were previously discharged as being ready to function and cope with everyday life, return to hospital, having decompensated after relatively short periods of time. The reasons for decompensation are manifold, and vary from individual to individual. It is the contention of this writer that one of the reasons for the limited success of treatment of some patients may lie in the nature of the interdisciplinary team approach to treatment currently operative in many psychiatric hospitals. Interdisciplinary teams are usually composed of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and psychiatric nurses. The teams operate on the tacit assumption that no single approach holds the key to successful treatment of a patient...
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:11302 |
| Date | 02 June 2014 |
| Creators | Webster, Penny |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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