Patients released after psychiatric commitment evaluation: comparison with the committed.

The authors retrospectively analyzed two groups of patients who were evaluated for involuntary commitment. Based on the psychiatrist's evaluation, one group (N = 39) was committed and the other group (N = 39) was released. The committed patients were significantly younger and diagnosed psychotic. No significant differences between groups were found in sex, race, petitioner, treatment history and presenting behavior. Psychiatrists regardless of experience tended not to commit the non-psychotic patient, with the released patients constituting a unique subgroup of the outpatient population.