Abstract
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Introduction: Community mental health care is potentially
more humane and more therapeutic than hospital care, but
factors have culminated in a revolving-door phenomenon in
which many mentally ill people move continuously between
homelessness and hospitalisation. Downsizing or closing
long-stay psychiatric hospitals is a critical part of deinstitutionalization,
it is only a part of that process, the definition
extends beyond hospital depopulation to include the provision
of alternative services. PECC units have been successful
in addressing these issues.