The quality of life of persons with severe emotional disability: a review of empirical studies.

Following the deinstitutionalization of persons with serious mental illness from state hospitals, many persons with serious mental illness did not receive the care that they needed and encountered unexpected negative experiences. Among the negative experiences were frequent rehospitalizations, involvement in the criminal justice system, and homelessness. Seeing these negative outcomes, mental health professionals in the 1980s debated the quality of life of persons with severe and persistent mental illness and concluded that the main goal of treatment was to improve the quality of life of those afflicted. Thus, the quality of life became a critical variable in determining the effectiveness of mental health treatment. This paper reviews studies that used quality of life as an outcome measure in treatment services for persons with serious and persistent mental illness and the policy implications of these studies.