Analysis of follow-up data on 123 adolescents treated over a four-year period indicates that intensive short-term residential treatment that includes emphasis on work with families, involvement in community activities, and discharge planning can be an effective means of helping youngsters with severe psychiatric disorders who have not responded to briefer or less intensive forms of psychiatric treatment.

This paper reviews the history of residential treatment, examines the central concepts that define the therapeutic modality, and shows how those concepts provide means of addressing criticisms that have been raised about it in the past and adapting residential programs to meet challenges facing them in the future.

Outcome research on residential treatment indicates that, although adolescents often improve in residential treatment, those gains are frequently lost when they return to the community. This paper examines reasons for these findings and highlights two shortcomings of many residential programs that contribute to the problem: limitations on family participation in treatment and lack of opportunities for involvement in the community. Consideration is given to ways in which the need to develop short-term residential treatment programs can provide an impetus to addressing the problem.

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