On the recording of mental illness for civil commitment

The survey of 102 consecutive certificates for involuntary admission and a review of the case material demonstrated that in 78 cases the form was completed adequately. In 13 cases full description of evidence of mental disorder was lacking on the certificate but after reviewing the cases it would appear that clear evidence of mental disorder was probably present at the time of certification. In this survey, suicidal or homicidal risk alone was not considered evidence of mental disorder. In the full 11 cases the grounds for diagnosing mental disorder rested upon the presence of phenomena like anger, alcoholism, or mild mental retardation or the presence of a personality disorder, all of these being associated with risk to the patient or another person. Compelling evidence for the necessity of psychiatric commitment in these complex situations cannot be described briefly; thus it does not appear that an altered certification form would solve the problem.