Patients' attitudes at the time of their commitment.

The discussion concerning who should be committed and by whom, has dominated the psychiatric literature for many years (1). More recently, the issue of whether committal allows merely for incarceration in the least restrictive alternative or whether it also entitles patients to be treated against their will, if necessary, has also received attention (2-5). As yet, few studies have attempted to define the characteristics of the committed population (6-11). Even fewer studies have attempted to define what patients themselves thought of their committal to hospital (12-15) and for the most part, have not obtained their opinions regarding the broader issues of committal that are being debated in the professional literature. This study seeks to elicit the opinions of patients in these matters.