Differences between conventional and psychiatric hospitalization – Suicidality in severe personality disorders

In spite of the enormous advances in differentiating hospitalizations in conventional medical care systems from psychiatric hospitalization, the bidirectional translocation of these prevails, i.e., admission of patients with primary psychiatric disorders to general medicine wards or the application of a traditional medical model to a supposed program of psychiatric hospitalization. In this paper, the divergence of medical hospitalization and psychiatric hospitalization is explored along two dimensions: (1) indications and justification for a psychiatric hospitalization; and (2) suicidality in severe personality disorders. Contrary to the erroneous prediction of few decades ago about the disappearance of the psychiatric hospital, the need for modern psychiatric institutions and psychiatry divisions that integrate the advances and contemporary proposals in the area of mental health and behavioral sciences is more imperative than ever. For this, a continuous effort is essential to critically explore the current situation and address the enormous challenges represented by the training of personnel, professors, and psychiatry residents for the optimal use of available hospital resources.