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At the Austen Riggs Center, our patients come from across the country and from abroad, from all walks of life and from backgrounds representing a wide range of patient demographics.

Riggs patients collaborating on a woodworking project

People who come to Riggs will find that we treat the individual, not just the diagnosis or symptoms. Our admission process, like our treatment program, is highly individualized.

Patient Ages

Riggs accepts patients 18 years of age and older. The median length of stay is about 6 months.

Gender Identity

Of patients admitted to Riggs in 2023, most identify as female (48%) or male (42%). 7% identify as non-binary. Admitted patients 1/1/23-9/14/23; n=62

United States map showing most Riggs patients come from states on the eastern seaboard

Where Patients Come From

While we welcome people from across the country and around the world, more than half of our patients come from New England, New York, and the upper Mid-Atlantic region. Our top referring states (in order) are New York, Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Admitted patients 5/20/20-9/14/23; n=235; 2% unreported

Bar graph showing types of disorders among Riggs patients, with most being mood and personality disorders

Patient Diagnoses at Admission

At the Center, many patients are diagnostically complex at admission, with an average of six disorders. In addition, 60% of patients have suffered from early abuse, neglect, deprivation, or loss; 49% have made at least one potentially lethal suicide attempt; and 60% have been hospitalized three times or more.

Why Residential Treatment?

Most people can make the gains they need to as outpatients, but successful outpatient treatment requires two capacities: The ability to get to and use sessions, and the ability to live life successfully enough between sessions. When one or both of these pose a problem, adding more sessions or more medications or group or family work makes sense, but sometimes more is needed. When there is a crisis involving safety, short-term inpatient treatment focused on crisis stabilization is indicated. Sometimes, though, crises are recurrent, or outpatient treatment is at an impasse, without movement toward recovery. In these instances, immersion in a residential treatment program mobilizes more support and more kinds of integrated treatment opportunities than outpatient treatment can provide. Residential treatment helps individuals address underlying issues that interfere with successful outpatient treatment so that people may return to outpatient treatment better able to use it to pursue recovery.

Former Patient Stories

Hear first-hand from Austen Riggs Center Alumni about their experiences before, during, and after treatment at Riggs.

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What Former Patients Say About Riggs

I look at Riggs as the place that broke my fall. I discovered my competency and I found my voice. I started by expressing my anger about almost everything. But this expression opened many doors for me. From there, I broke the downward spiral."

- CJ

Patient Outcomes

When I came to Riggs, after 40 hospitalizations, I was dying. The intensive psychotherapy was painful, difficult, and extraordinary. The therapeutic community let me see my problematic behavior reflected in my peers. I found my best self at Riggs."

- Polly Schlitz

Individual Psychotherapy

I wish there were more places like Riggs. The open environment and the treatment are like none other. They provided me with a freedom that I certainly didn’t have anywhere else. You get out of Riggs of what you put into it. That’s the bottom line."

- Jen

The Riggs Difference