Presents a social innovative experiment aimed at providing participating social positions in American society for mental patients. This book explores the events that occurred when a courageous group of former chronic mental patients abruptly left a hospital and established their own autonomous sub-society in a large, metropolitan area.
In this reprint from 1969, Fairweather, who taught psychology at Michigan State U., et al. present an account of an experiment they conducted in which a group of mental patients left a hospital and started their own community in a large, metropolitan area. They discuss the medical, economic, sociological, and psychological aspects of the patients' daily lives, comparisons to hospital treatment programs, the effects of their community on the neighborhood and city, and effects on the behavior and perception of its members. The authors also review the benefits of the living situation, arguing that it had a positive outcome.
