Psychiatric services in Soviet general outpatient clinics

The author believes that the first level of psychiatric care in the U.S.S.R.--the general polyclinics (outpatient clinics) and the medical- sanitary units--have not been adequately studied. He describes this level of care, which is considered useful and progressive in that the clinics are supposed to make psychiatric care available to the population, lighten the load placed on psychiatric facilities, and improve follow-up therapy. However, he also points out the shortcomings in this first level of psychiatric care in the U.S.S.R., including the bureaucratic nature of the system and the uneven quality of service the clinics render to various social groups in urban and rural areas.