The practice of involuntary psychiatric commitment is central to the acute treatment of persons with severe mental illness and others in psychiatric crisis. Deciding whether a patient should be admitted involuntarily requires weighing respect for autonomy against beneficence, considering the clinical needs of the patient, and navigating ambiguous legal standards. The relative dearth of information about the impact of involuntary commitment on objective patient outcomes complicates matters ethically, legally, and clinically. To address this gap in the literature, we sought to determine the association between temporary psychiatric holds and length of stay and readmission rates among a retrospective sample of adult patients admitted to a large psychiatric hospital with diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, mania, and other psychotic disorders. In total, we identified 460 patients and 559 unique encounters meeting our inclusion criteria; 90 of the encounters were voluntary (involving a temporary psychiatric hold) and 469 were involuntary. Univariable and multivariable analyses suggested that temporary psychiatric holds were not significantly associated with either length of stay or readmission rate. These findings are relevant to clinicians who must decide whether to admit a patient involuntarily, as they suggest that making a patient involuntary is not associated with differences in length of stay or readmission risk.

非自愿精神科承诺的做法对于严重精神疾病患者和其他精神危机患者的急性治疗至关重要。决定患者是否应非自愿入院需要权衡尊重自主权和善意，考虑患者的临床需求，并应对模糊的法律标准。关于非自愿承诺对客观患者结果的影响的信息相对缺乏，这使得伦理、法律和临床问题变得复杂。为了解决文献中的这一差距，我们试图确定在大型精神病院诊断为精神分裂症、分裂情感性障碍、躁狂症、和其他精神障碍。我们总共确定了 460 名患者和 559 名符合我们纳入标准的独特遭遇；90 次遭遇是自愿的（涉及临时精神病院），469 次是非自愿的。单变量和多变量分析表明，临时精神病院与住院时间或再入院率均无显着相关性。这些发现与必须决定是否非自愿入院患者的临床医生有关，因为他们表明让患者非自愿与住院时间或再入院风险的差异无关。单变量和多变量分析表明，临时精神病院与住院时间或再入院率均无显着相关性。这些发现与必须决定是否非自愿接收患者的临床医生有关，因为他们表明使患者非自愿与住院时间或再入院风险的差异无关。单变量和多变量分析表明，临时精神病院与住院时间或再入院率均无显着相关性。这些发现与必须决定是否非自愿接收患者的临床医生有关，因为他们表明使患者非自愿与住院时间或再入院风险的差异无关。