This article presents the findings of a study of ex-mental patients in a community care centre in Denmark. Participant observation was used in combination with qualitative and semi-structured interviews. It marks the first part of a research project to develop a sociological understanding of social relations and interaction patterns among mental patients living outside institutions. The present study describes and analyses the social community, norm and value systems and explains them scientifically as amounting to a mutual or social coping situation.
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