Research and applications have demonstrated that the care environment directly affects the health and healing of patients. Despite advances in the design of health care environments and our understandings of the relationship between mental and physical health, the design of mental health care spaces lags behind that of other medical settings.
A careful examination discovers that changing our approach to the design of units and facilities for mental health care can improve outcomes for patients and satisfaction for staff while helping break some of the societal stigmas associated with mental illness.