New study finds that psychiatric hospitalization for some people doubles the risk of suicide, overdose death, and violence, adding to the medical literature indicating forced psychiatric treatment can do more harm than good.

New research finds that for some people involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities, there is an increased likelihood of death or being charged with a violent crime within a short time after release. This outcome is contrary to the justification used for forced psychiatric detention, which is to reduce the likelihood of danger to self or others.

Using physician and administrative data from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, investigators from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York focused on the roughly 40% of adult, first-time involuntary hospitalizations that were judgment calls – where some physicians would involuntarily commit but others would not. For these hospitalized individuals, the researchers estimated the causal effects of involuntary hospitalization on harm to self, as measured by subsequent suicides or overdose deaths, and on harm to others, as measured by subsequent charges of violent crime.

The results indicated that involuntary commitment “nearly doubles the probability of dying by suicide or overdose and also nearly doubles the probability of being charged with a violent crime in the three months after evaluation,” according to the study report, referring to the initial mental health evaluation.  Moreover, the greater likelihood of being charged with a violent crime – harm to others – continues for six months.

“Our results suggest that, on the margin, the system we study is not achieving the intended effects,” the investigators wrote.

They further provide evidence that disruptions to income, employment, and housing from psychiatric detention provide some explanation for an increased risk of harm to self and others post-discharge. “Such employment and earnings disruptions have implications for mortality and crime,” the report says.

Though the researchers noted the results should not be generalized to all people involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities, their findings are consistent with other recent research on harm resulting from psychiatric hospitalization.  Studies have found that patients hospitalized for depression have an extremely high risk of suicide following discharge – a risk one study found was 44 times greater compared with those who were not hospitalized – and a risk even greater for those who were involuntarily committed.

Evidence shows that involuntary commitment has become far more prevalent in recent years.  In 22 states with available civil commitment data for the five-year period ending in 2016, the states’ average yearly involuntary detention rate increased at three times the rate of their average population growth.  It has been estimated that four of every ten admissions to psychiatric facilities are involuntary, a figure that reportedly rose by 27% over the last decade.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on nations worldwide to end nonconsensual mental health practices.  “People subjected to coercive practices report feelings of dehumanization, disempowerment and being disrespected.  Many experience it as a form of trauma or re-traumatization leading to a worsening of their condition and increased experiences of distress,” WHO advised.

The organization’s call for an end to involuntary mental health treatment extends to those experiencing acute mental distress. WHO notes that individuals in mental health crisis “are at a heightened risk of their human rights being violated, including through forced admissions and treatment…. These practices have been shown to be harmful to people’s mental, emotional and physical health, sometimes leading to death.”

CCHR has been a global leader in the fight against the use of involuntary commitments, seclusion and restraints, forced psychiatric drugging, and electroshock. The Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights lays out the fundamental human rights in the field of mental health that CCHR advocates, including the right to one’s own mind and the right to be free from forced mental health treatment.