To the Editor: Aha! The editorial practice at Psychiatric Services is generating good old-fashioned cognitive dissonance. Congratulations. This will definitely keep the readership on their toes.
On page 761 of the July issue, in the Economic Grand Rounds column (
+1), Robert Schreter, M.D., of the University of Maryland, tells us that we must "make do with less." A scant six pages further, Yih-Ing Hser, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles (
+2), present data showing that greater quality and quantity of services would increase retention in treatment.
This is certainly the material out of which cognitive dissonance and a variety of other frustrations can grow.
Perhaps until mental health funding is rationalized, we should just stop publishing papers about how to spend more money.