Abstract
Italian statistics on psychiatric bed availability, voluntary and compulsory admissions were examined from 1979 to 1997. Although the number of psychiatric beds dropped by 62.5%, the absolute number of compulsory admissions has remained substantially stable. The proportion of all admissions that were compulsory decreased from 17.1% to 11%. This study shows that a shift to community care was not associated with an increase in compulsory admissions in Italy.
MeSH terms
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Commitment of Mentally Ill / statistics & numerical data*
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Commitment of Mentally Ill / trends
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Community Psychiatry / legislation & jurisprudence*
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Hospitals, Psychiatric / statistics & numerical data*
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Humans
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Italy / epidemiology
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Length of Stay / statistics & numerical data
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Mental Disorders / therapy*
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Mental Health Services / legislation & jurisprudence*
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Mental Health Services / statistics & numerical data
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Mental Health Services / trends
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Patient Admission / statistics & numerical data*
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Patient Admission / trends
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Prevalence