PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC OUTPATIENT WARD OF A DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY IN A GENERAL-HOSPITAL

This is a survey of the treatment courses provided so far during the initial period after the foundation of a psychotherapeutic outpatient ward of a Department of Psychiatry in a General Hospital. A relatively small benefit only is actually derived from this institution by the Department of Psychiatry: this benefit consisting of the fact that inpatients requiring psychotherapeutic treatment can be referred quickly to outpatient treatment in the psychotherapeutic ward. As a matter of fact, however, the outpatient ward barely fills the considerable gap in psychotherapeutic facilities available in the city of Oberhausen in Germany, whereas on the other hand adequate financial sponsoring has not been satisfactorily assured to date. Almost half of the referred patients were unsuitable for the depth psychology treatment offered by the outpatient ward and had therefore to be ruled out.