OPEN MINDS The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst Industry News Lafe Myers, M.D. , Medical Director For Mental Health at Aetna Life Insurance Company, told a panel at the 56th annual meeting of the National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals that the number of private psychiatric hospitals in the United States increased from 180 in 1970 to nearly 250 in 1985. The number of psychiatric beds in the nation’s hospitals rose by 37% in 1985 alone.