Community Mental Health

The client group referred to as the long-term mentally ill, the persistently severely mentally distressed, the chronically psychotic ill, or people with long-term mental health problems have generally received a poor deal from the traditional psychiatric services. Help has largely rested on custodial and medical treatments. The main focus of rehabilitative ap­ proaches has often been dictated by predetermined expecta­ tions which are usually set quite low. The assumption is often made that peo