A review of compulsory admissions to a psychiatric unit in Sydney

This study is concerned with compulsory admissions of patients from a defined catchment area of Sydney in 1979. The rate of such detentions under the present Mental Health Act in New South Wales was found to be about one per 1000 of the total population in one year. A much smaller proportion of psychotic than of non-psychotic patients was considered dangerous by doctors who signed the schedules, yet those (40%) requiring to be on compulsory orders after magisterial hearings were all diagnosed as psychotic. If dangerousness were to be the main criterion for compulsory detention under the Mental Health Act (as recently proposed), many psychotic patients could not legally be detained. Yet follow-up, as in this study, demonstrates the benefits of such admissions. Revision of proposed amendments is recommended.