Small Group Work Therapy for the Chronic Mentally Ill

In 1980 the authors reviewed the records of the first 130 patients to enter small group work therapy, a program begun in 1964 by Arkansas State Hospital and Arkansas Rehabilitation Services in which chronic schizophrenic patients live in group homes and work in Hot Springs. Forty-five of the original patients were still in the program in 1980. Although the patients had been hospitalized for an average of 11 years, they spent an average of seven years in the program, during which time their hospital utilization dropped significantly. Forty-two were discharged to settings offering greater independence. The authors focus on the role of a rehabilitative unit of Arkansas State Hospital known as the HIP unit, which, until it was closed in 1976, prepared patients to live and work with each other before entering small group work therapy.