ssroads Hospital prior to 1990, spent six months or more in the inpatient program. Indeed, in some cases of severe disturbance, adolescents would spend up to one full year on in-patient status.
It is important to note that Crossroads use of long-term intervention on inpatient status was not arbitrary. Rather, the literature provided at least some justification for such intervention. For example, as noted by Zinn (1989), there are several good reasons for inpatient containment of the severely psychiatric and/or chemically dependent adolescent. These reasons include:
(1) the provision of a full-time therapeutic environment; (2) protection from exploitation and physical harm that the symptomatic adolescent might face in the community;
(3) provision of the only method that has been associated with fully interrupting the gratifications of an entrenched regressive pattern of behavior;
(4) assistance in cases where behavior is so disruptive it cannot be handled by family and/or friends; and
(5) provision of a period of time wherein the u
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