Community Control of the Community Mental Health Center: I. Introduction

The author believes that community control of most community mental health centers will occur in the current decade. After giving the background and rationale for this trend, he outlines some of the problems psychiatrists are likely to face as they attempt to adjust to the new realities. He sees the need for more exposure by psychiatrists to ghetto problems, and stresses the enormous amount of time and other resources required for services other than the traditional clinical ones. Issues of racism can be expected to intensify and to complicate the problems.