[Increasing number of involuntary emergency admissions to psychiatric institutions]

One of the aims of the structural reforms in psychiatry has been to reduce the need for involuntary hospitalization. The paper presents an investigation which demonstrates an opposite trend. Involuntary admissions to the acute wards of psychiatric institutions in Oslo increased from 30-50% to more than 80% during the period 1981-1992. The percentage of psychotic patients admitted to hospital has increased, and the number of beds for long-term patients has decreased. Provisions to receive emergency cases were introduced in 1983. The observations presented here are disturbing, and should be fully investigated.