Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa (C.H.P.L.), in Lisbon, Portugal, is the biggest psychiatric hospital in Portugal and one of the oldest still working. Along with acute inpatient clinics it has long duration inpatient units with 226 patients.

Characterize and improve the therapeutic approaches in patients committed to the long duration inpatient unit with long hospitalization times and the diagnose of schizophrenia.

During the month of September 2015 all patients, committed before 2000 who fulfilled the diagnosis criteria ICD 10, F20.X (Schizophrenia) were characterized regarding age, gender, time of hospitalization and were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS).

From the original sample (n = 226), 31 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 64.4 years (min 50–max 91) and the majority were male (67.7%; n = 21). The mean years of hospitalization were 28.7 years (min 15–max 60). The average total PANSS score was 99.8 (positive symptoms: 25.4; negative symptoms: 29.9; general symptoms: 44.4).

Although in last decades many psychiatric hospitals were closed and community approaches to treatment of the mentally ill were the direction preconized by several international organizations, some patients still “live” in the hospital. Mostly, as we found in our study, have a severe, refractory disease, sometimes with behaviour changes that unable them to be discharged. With the continuous evolution of psychopharmacological drug treatment, this paradigm may change. Meanwhile other therapeutic approaches should be used to improve the disease symptoms.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.