Selected Self-Help: A Study of Clients of a Community Social Psychiatry Service

Three storefront neighborhood service centers were set up to serve a disadvantaged area in New York City as part of a community psychiatric service. The first two years of their full operation are assessed in terms of who used the centers and why. Clients of the centers were interviewed some time after their visits and compared with the rest of the community. The author found that the people in the community with the most problems are most likely to use the centers, and the problems they bring are typical of those in the community. Psychiatric problems are seldom presented expressly, but people with histories of psychiatric illness are much more likely to visit the centers.