Behavior change and achieving hospital discharge in persons with severe, chronic psychiatric disabilities.

Economic and political pressures have led state governments to shrink and close long-term psychiatric inpatient units in favor of community-based treatment. These pressures present inpatient clinicians with an opportunity to examine their clinical practices and question whether the focus of treatment addresses the behaviors most relevant to helping patients achieve discharge and maintain community tenure. The social learning approach of Gordon Paul is the empirically validated treatment of choice for long-term psychiatric inpatients.