ABSTRACT
The rehab patients are not only the patients of a medical organization and the charges of a personal care service, but are also the inmates of what approximates an ideal total institution. Erving Goffman specifies the characteristics of an institution. All aspects of life are conducted in the same place and under the same single authority. Each phase of the member's daily activity is carried on in the immediate company of a large batch of others, all of whom are treated alike and required to do the same thing together. When Goffman spoke of situational withdrawal, he used the mental hospital as a primary model and concentrated on various forms of psychological withdrawal–a cutting off of oneself from interaction with one's immediate surroundings. Withdrawal sometimes results in serious brain damage which depresses the patient's reactivity–some rehab patients will sit in a busy area and sleep off and on for long periods.
