[The problem of the "settlement" of the mentally ill elderly in psychiatric hospitals].
The gerontopsychiatric contingent of long-term stayers (LTS) (the patients who had permanently continued to stay in hospital for more than 5 years) was studied in two mental hospitals of Tver Province. There were 27.6% and 20.2% of LTS cases of overall geriatric contingents in these hospitals which included the patients older than 60 years old. The study covered different demographical, clinical and social aspects of this problem. In both groups it was established that more than half of the patients suffered from chronic schizophrenia (in the state of hallucinatory-delusional psychosis or in schizophrenic defect). The residual organic defect prevailed in the remaining patients. The factor furthering a long-term stay in hospitals was unfavorable social status of patients, namely most of the patients were lonely, more than half of them hadn't got any own habitation.