HealthDay (5/5, Thompson) reports a study found that “about 95% of patients return to mental health services in one way or another within two decades of their first admission to a psych ward,” which suggests “these patients either needed to be readmitted to the hospital later, or continued in long-term treatment.” For the study, “researchers followed more than 150 people younger than 40 for two decades after their first admission to a general psychiatric hospital serving the Copenhagen area.” They observed that “during the two-decade follow-up period, 38% of patients received a diagnosis of schizophrenia; 35% schizotypy; 14% depression; 25% personality disorder; 11% bipolar disorder; and 6% substance use disorder. Results showed that people with schizophrenia-type disorders in particular tended to have them long-term, with 80% receiving the same diagnosis during the two decades of follow-up.” The study was published in European Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “First Psych Ward Stay Signals Long-Term Mental Health Struggles For Nearly All Patients,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , May 5, 2026