A Preference for Liberty: The Case against Involuntary Commitment of the Mentally Disordered

In the last two decades there have been changes of immense magnitude in the laws pertaining to involuntary commitment of mental patients to hospitals.'In 1960, involuntary mental hospitalization and treatment were decisions almost entirely within the discretion of mental health professionals.Although, at least in theory, commitment had to be accomplished in conformity with statutory requirements, effective substantive and procedural restraints on families and mental health professionals who sought involuntary commitment were virtually nonexistent.Moreover, the degree of power and discretion vested in mental health professionals was not considered problematic-it seemed fitting to allow medical personnel to make what were viewed as essentially medical decisions.In the mid-1960's, however, the picture changed radically.Lawyers interested in civil rights turned their attention to involuntary hospitalization at the same time that various conceptual and political critiques of psychiatry, especially institutional psychiatry, gathered mo-