[Number of hospitalizations according to German "PsychKG" legislation has doubled in 10 years].
OBJECTIVE
to examine the frequency of involuntary hospitalisation according to PsychKG (german law concerning psychiatric practice) in a comprehensive region with good overall medical/psychiatric services, over the course of a decade.


METHODS
All cases of compulsory admission into Psychiatric Clinics within the greater Göttingen area (Central Germany) were evaluated every two years between 1988 and 1998.


RESULTS
The number of involuntarily hospitalised patients doubled within the ten years of evaluation although the density of population remained stable and the already good quality out-patient treatment experienced further improvement. However, the total number of in-patients also doubled during this time, so that the proportion between compulsory admission and voluntary hospitalisation remained the same.


CONCLUSIONS
Similar to other regions, the increase in compulsory admissions is considerable. The development towards shorter treatments and an increasing frequency of re-hospitalisation seem to have no significant influence on the courses of disease or on future pathological crises of the patients in question. It is possible that the expected lack of a decreasing rate of compulsory admission is partly caused by behaviour on the part of the physician.
Darsow-Schütte
K I
KI
Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie Göttingen.
Müller
P
P
D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends; D012189:Retrospective Studies