Social and demographic characteristics of psychiatric emergency clinic attenders

Abstract

Bergman M. Pétursson H. Social and demographic characteristics of psychiatric emergency clinic attenders.

Psychiatric emergency facilities have become increasingly important over the years, and now represent a substantial part of the network of mental health services. With the establishment of emergency psychiatric facilities in Iceland the opportunity arose to study the various clinical and social aspects of this type of service. The present paper describes the main social and demographic characteristics of the emergency patient population throughout a period of one year. A brief review of the relevant literature is presented and compared to the present results. With few exceptions the Icelandic data are consistent with and comparable to findings of previous studies of psychiatric emergency services.

Key Words:

• Demography
• Psychiatric emergency
• Social characteristics