Since the 1950s, the goal of mental hospitals has changed. Today the principal goal of most such hospitals is to

A) provide short-term care until a patient is ready to go home.
B) evaluate whether criminal defendants are legally insane.
C) provide education and training for psychiatric students.
D) provide long-term custodial care for most patients.

The goal of mental hospitals has shifted from long-term custodial care to providing short-term care until patients can be discharged and continue their treatment in outpatient settings. This change was largely due to the development of effective psychotropic medications and the push for deinstitutionalization in the 1950s and 60s. Mental hospitals now aim to stabilize patients, provide crisis intervention, and facilitate their transition back into the community.