Planning psychiatric hospitals--human design considerations.

Psychiatric hospitals are environments of subtle complexity in both their physical structures and in the psychosocial interpersonal relationships occurring within them. Good planning and groundwork involving disciplines other than those necessary to plan the physical environment are essential for a full interpretation and implementation of a facility's potential. An institution's outer and inner environmental quality will quickly communicate a message of welcome and caring, or one of indifference, to patients and family. The physical structure is invariably an important catalyst to the therapeutic process and, as such, needs to have a high level of amenity for all of its occupants. Due to the diversity of patients and the manifestations of their illnesses, the psychiatric hospital must be carefully planned to serve many obvious and hidden needs.