No access

Article

Published Online: June 1954

COMMUNITY CONDITIONS AND PSYCHOSES OF THE ELDERLY

ERNEST M. GRUENBERGAuthors Info & Affiliations

Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 110, Number 12

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.110.12.888

Get Access

Abstract

Our evidence indicates that there is in the center of the city an area characterized by high first mental hospital admission rates for cerebral arteriosclerotic and senile psychosis, by high first mental hospital admission rates for all the other psychoses taken as a group, by high concentrations of multiple family dwellings, and by high percentages of people living alone.

POINTS FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION

The foregoing findings indicate a need for studies in the following directions:

1. Determination of whether a disproportionate number of the hospital patients tend [SEE SOURCE PDF FOR TABLES 2,3,4,5] to have been living alone prior to hospitalization. Gerard's(4) study of schizophrenia and Sainsbury's studies of suicides as reported by Aubrey Lewis(5) suggest that this may be true.

2. Determination of whether the cases come disporportionately from multiple family dwellings. This is a much harder question to answer and no simple method for doing so has yet been found.

3. Determination of whether those first admissions who were not living alone at the time of admission were undergoing a process of social isolation without physical isolation.

4. Determination of whether isolation is an early Symptom of psychosis formation, is causative of psychosis, or both.

5. If physical or social isolation are found to be causative, determination of methods by which such isolation may be prevented and by which it can be arrested and reversed once begun.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Get Access

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 110 • Number 12 • June 1954

Pages: 888 - 896

PubMed: 13158623

History

Published in print: June 1954

Published online: 1 April 2006

Authors

Details

ERNEST M. GRUENBERG

Executive Director, New York State Mental Health Commission, Dept. of Mental Hygiene.

View all articles by this author

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format	RIS (ProCite, Reference Manager) EndNote BibTex Medlars RefWorks
Direct importt
Citation style
Style

Copy to clipboard
Tips for downloading citations

View Options

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login

Purchase Options

Purchase this article to access the full text.

PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR^® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

COMMUNITY CONDITIONS AND PSYCHOSES OF THE ELDERLY

Abstract

Get full access to this article