Involuntary commitment, civil commitment, or involuntary hospitalization/hospitalisation is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified person to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is detained in a psychiatric hospital (inpatient) where they can be treated involuntarily. This treatment may involve the administration of psychoactive drugs, including involuntary administration. In many jurisdictions, people diagnosed with mental health disorders can also be forced to undergo treatment while in the community; this is sometimes referred to as outpatient commitment and shares legal processes with commitment.
Lord Shaftesbury, a vigorous campaigner for the reform of lunacy law in England, and the Head of the Lunacy Commission for 40 years.
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, or behavioral health hospitals are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative identity disorder, major depressive disorder, and others.
Danvers State Hospital, Danvers, Massachusetts, Kirkbride Complex, c. 1893
Niuvanniemi Hospital in Niuva, Finland
McLean Hospital's administration building in Belmont, Massachusetts; the hospital treated several notable New England residents, including Massachusetts governor Nathaniel P. Banks, musician James Taylor, and poet Anne Sexton
York Retreat, built in the late 18th century by William Tuke, a pioneer in moral treatment of the mentally ill
