What is it about?
Mental health care is changing around the world, moving away from large psychiatric institutions toward care in the community. However, the way mental health services are measured does not reflect what really happens in these hospitals. For example, in Argentina many do not have specialized psychiatric wards, so people receive care in general medical areas. As a result, official data often underestimates the care is actually being provided.
Featured Image
Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Better information can help improve services and ensure people receive appropriate mental healthcare closer to their communities.
Perspectives
We need to see what really happens in services, because mental health policies can be built upon misconceptions. Sometimes they are informed by believes rather than observations.
Sara Ardila Gómez
CONICET
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Rethinking Indicators of Mental Health Inpatient Care in General Hospitals: A Perspective From Argentina, Psychiatric Services, March 2026, American Psychiatric Association,
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.20250285.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
