ABSTRACT
Emergencies have always existed for psychiatry, but the health care community has not always provided psychiatry for emergencies. Until recently, treatment providers for psychiatric emergencies were most frequently families and police, and the most typical responses were either hospitalization or no treatment at all. Technologic advances in the field of emergency psychiatry include pharmacologic and psychologic interventions. The appearance of chlorpromazine in the 1950s made rapid control of acute psychotic symptoms possible. Emergency psychiatry did not appear in isolation. A complex emergency medical system was developing apace. In 1966 the Department of Transportation was authorized under the National Highway Safety Act to set guidelines for emergency medical services. In 1972 the Health Services and Mental Health Administration authorized five Emergency Medical Service (EMS) demonstration sites. Among other innovations, these sites were to integrate psychiatric services into their comprehensive medical services.
