It is difficult not to be won over by the description of assertive community treatment that promises nearly total caring for the most chronically disabled mentally ill, including “the material essentials of life such as food, clothing and shelter, coping skills necessary to meet the demands of community living and motivation to persevere in the face of life's adversity”. If we keep in mind that this approach is for patients who in previous decades would have spent their life in a mental institution, one can readily justify the transfer of expense and resources to this hopefully more humane form of treatment which allows patients to live within the context of open society, a preference they inevitably opt for when surveyed after a move from hospitalisation to community care.