Dieci problemi per una reale riforma della salute mentale.

The Italian Law no. 180/1978, that closed mental hospitals in Italy, is a law of principles that cannot prevent the development and the progressive extension of ways of working used in old psychiatric hospitals. Ten aspects are examined which are strongly at risk in this direction and which are in fact facilitated by many national and regional regulations. They are the following: leaving the organization of mental health to the autonomous decisions of Regions; reducing the programming of services to an administrative management; reconstituting spaces that operate according to the old mental hospital system; not using every available tool to oppose chronicity; not making a real integration of the new psychiatric wards in General Hospitals; returning to "dangerous for yourself and others" as the leading model in psychiatric choices; devaluing the centrality of the community and the integrative value of mental health centers; managing any context where there are behavioral or social problems as something related to mental illness; ignoring benchmarking and outcome measures; devaluing the quality of training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]