Deinstitutionalization of Black Patients: An Apocalypse Now
James H. Carter M.D.1
1 The Division of Community and Social Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710
We need to reexamine the methods for developing and implementing programs for racial minorities. However, the issue of black mental health care should not surface only as an afterthought. The 1978 report of the President's Commission on Mental Health (10) supports my position on the apocalypse that has resulted from deinstitutionalization. The commission's recommendations place special emphasis on the needs of the chronic mentally ill and other undenserved populations. As a beginning, it would be valuable for mental health professionals concerned about black patients to reconsider those recommendations.
