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Involuntary commitment in psychiatric care: what drives the decision?

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Lorant, Vincent [UCL] Depuydt, Caroline Gillain, Benoit [UCL] Guillet, Alain [UCL] Dubois, Vincent [UCL]

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric commitment laws have been reformed in many European countries. We assessed the relative importance of the different legal criteria in explaining involuntary commitment under the Belgian Mental Health Act of 1990. METHOD: Psychiatric assessments were requested for 346 patients living in Brussels who were randomly selected from a larger group and were being considered for involuntary commitment. A retrospective study of these patients' files was carried out. RESULTS: More than half of the requests for involuntary commitment were turned down. The lack of a less restrictive alternative form of care was the criterion most crucial in decisions in favour of commitment. Alternative forms of care were more likely to be unavailable for psychotic individuals, foreigners, and patients not living in a private household. CONCLUSION: Involuntary commitment is mainly due to the inability of the mental health care system to provide more demanding patients with alternative forms of care.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 2007
Journal information "Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology" - Vol. 42, no. 5, p. 360-5 (2007)
Peer reviewed yes
issn 0933-7954
Publication status Publié
Affiliations UCL - MD/ESP - Ecole de santé publique
UCL - EUEN/STAT - Institut de statistique
UCL - MD/NOPS - Département de neurologie et de psychiatrie
UCL - (SLuc) Service de psychiatrie adulte
MESH Subject Adult ; Belgium ; Commitment of Mentally Ill - legislation & jurisprudence ; Decision Making, Organizational ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Health Services - legislation & jurisprudence ; Middle Aged ; Psychiatry - legislation & jurisprudence ; Public Health
Keywords MHSR
Links
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Bibliographic reference Lorant, Vincent ; Depuydt, Caroline ; Gillain, Benoit ; Guillet, Alain ; Dubois, Vincent. Involuntary commitment in psychiatric care: what drives the decision?. In: Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, Vol. 42, no. 5, p. 360-5 (2007)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/10912