Abstract
At the Institut Albert Prévost we have an Observation Ward, which really is an Intensive Care Unit, where we can treat patients who could not be kept in the normal setting of a small psychiatric hospital. This ward is a closed one, and it has a capacity of 16 beds taken up by acute paranoid schizophrenics, suicidal patients, patients in a panic etc. With this ward, the hospital can deal with almost any kind of patient. Be sides the individual therapy there is a good deal of group therapy and occupational therapy which takes place on the premises. The patient is the object of constant care and the staff is also constantly made aware of its reaction to the patient in the daily ward conference and in the weekly ward staff meeting.
Finally, some observations are made on group movements on the ward and on the phenomena of socialization.