Rapid readmission to psychiatry wards (the ‘revolving doors’ scenario) is a common source of frustration to both patients and the teams treating them. However, the reasons behind these rapid readmissions have not been closely studied previously.Here, the authors describe their retrospective study investigating the reasons behind the readmissions that had taken place in the general adult psychiatry wards of a Scottishhospital within 30 days of the last discharge. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Interface Ltd