A Danger to Self and Others: Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization

Every state in the country has a law permitting involuntary hospitalization if a person presents a danger to themselves or others as a result of mental illness. If a person reaches this high bar, the logic goes, they should be confined in a psychiatric hospital for treatment until they are stabilized. (The process is also sometimes called involuntary commitment, involuntary psychiatric hold, or sectioning.) Although there is no definitive national accounting, it is estimated that about 1.2 million involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations occur every year ( Lee and Cohen 2021 ). This puts the magnitude on par with the 1.2 million individuals imprisoned in state, federal, and military prisons every year ( Carson 2022 ). In a new Staff Report , we use data from Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, to measure how psychiatric commitments are impacting an individual’s risk of danger to themselves or others, earnings, and housing.