In general, no. We don’t hospitalize people on a whim or without safeguards. That said, like any other mechanism, the process for involuntary admission can be misused and misapplied. And because of a variety of systemic factors (underfunding, staffing issues, legal liabilities), even when involuntary care is justified, the experience can…
In general, no. We don’t hospitalize people on a whim or without safeguards. That said, like any other mechanism, the process for involuntary admission can be misused and misapplied. And because of a variety of systemic factors (underfunding, staffing issues, legal liabilities), even when involuntary care is justified, the experience can end up being quite traumatic for some people. Couple this with lack of pathways for voluntary inpatient care and lack of community resources, and there is increased pressure on inpatient services to handle issues that could’ve been handled elsewhere if we had a better system of crisis care. For people who have these really negative experiences with inpatient care, it is small comfort that inpatient care is very difficult to access for most people. I am a practicing psychiatrist. I admit many people involuntarily, I treat many involuntarily. I am super-aware that there is often no way around it, but I am also super-aware of the ways in which the process can go wrong and I’m aware that for a subset of people, it could either have been avoided or care could’ve been provided in a more therapeutic and humanistic manner, if we had the resources to do so.
In general, no. We don’t hospitalize people on a whim or without safeguards. That said, like any other mechanism, the process for involuntary admission can be misused and misapplied. And because of a variety of systemic factors (underfunding, staffing issues, legal liabilities), even when involuntary care is justified, the experience can end up being quite traumatic for some people. Couple this with lack of pathways for voluntary inpatient care and lack of community resources, and there is increased pressure on inpatient services to handle issues that could’ve been handled elsewhere if we had a better system of crisis care. For people who have these really negative experiences with inpatient care, it is small comfort that inpatient care is very difficult to access for most people. I am a practicing psychiatrist. I admit many people involuntarily, I treat many involuntarily. I am super-aware that there is often no way around it, but I am also super-aware of the ways in which the process can go wrong and I’m aware that for a subset of people, it could either have been avoided or care could’ve been provided in a more therapeutic and humanistic manner, if we had the resources to do so.