The author examines three points of view on the question of society's
right to involuntarily hospitalize a mentally ill individual. The
"abolitionists" oppose involuntary hospitalization entirely; the medical
model psychiatrists support the need for commitment under certain
circumstances and so do the civil liberties lawyers, but by different
standards. The author believes that with the current overreliance on the
dangerousness standard, we are witnessing a pendular swing in which the
rights of the mentally ill to be treated and protected are being set aside
in the rush to give them their freedom. He favors a return to the use of
medical criteria by psychiatrists, albeit with constructive legal
safeguards.Abstract Teaser