The Response to Group Psychotherapy of Aged Recent Admissions Compared with Long-Term Mental Hospital Patients

The effect of one year of group psychotherapy upon two types of geriatric patients in a state mental hospital was tested in a controlled study of long-term patients who had aged in the hospital, among whom a diagnosis of schizophrenia was prevalent, and recently admitted aged patients, among whom a diagnosis of chronic brain syndrome was prevalent. Improvement appeared to be more pronounced among the long-term patients, although the results indicated that group psychotherapy was beneficial to both groups.