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A comparison of the voluntary and involuntary patients at Dammasch State Hospital, Wilsonville, Oregon. A representative sample of cases over time, were chosen for the year 1976, 72 voluntary and 72 involuntary patients. One-hundred and twelve variables were coded onto sheets for each patient. The variables concerned marital status, job history, history of violent acts, present living situations and relationships, as well as drug history and diagnosis and treatment in the hospital. The data were coded onto cards and a computer analysis was done using Factor and Discriminant Function Analysis. It was hypothesized the populations of persons voluntarily admitted and involuntarily committed would be different in several ways. (A) The population of involuntarily committed persons would have more anti-social aggression in their histories. This hypothesis was partially supported by the data. The involuntarily committed had a significantly higher incidence of being under a current legal charge at the time of commitment. There was no significant difference between the two populations in the number of previous incarcerations or on 'violence committed within the family'. (B) Persons involuntarily committed would have significantly fewer relationships with persons in the community and fewer ties to persons they support financially or emotionally or that support them emotionally or financially. This hypothesis was partly supported by the data. The two populations were approximately equal on all the variables of relationship and living conditions except 'lives with mate'; for this variable the voluntary patients had a higher score. (C) Involuntarily committed persons would have less successful job histories. None of the items of the job history were significantly different in the two populations. (D) The involuntary population was more likely to have alcoholism as a secondary diagnosis. The voluntary population was more likely to have alcoholism as a primary diagnosis. This hypothesis was not clearly supported by the data. It was found that the voluntary population was more likely to abuse alcohol and the involuntary population was more likely to use alcohol. (E) The involuntary population was more likely to have experienced violence in their homes, while children. There were insufficient data in the hospital records concerning childhood to test this hypothesis. In the factor which contained the variable 'commitment' there were no elements of a history of dangerousness. The only significant correlation with commitment was 'prescription of phenothiazines in the hospital'; this result may point to the use of drugs as 'chemical restraints'. No other variable which indicated relationships, job history, social status, or dangerousness correlated significantly with commitment. These were the most important findings in the study.

Since mental illness has legal as well as medical aspects, it is the purpose of this thesis to consider one part of the relationship between the courts, the mentally ill person, and the state hospital. This part is concerned with the problem of how mentally ill persons are selected and committed by legal proceedings in the state of Texas for treatment in a mental hospital. This paper is concerned with the problem of how mentally ill persons are selected and committed by legal proceedings in the state of Texas for treatment in a mental hospital.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-178). / Microfiche. / xv, 178 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

The story of the mentally ill is a tale which is filled with unpleasant facts. Only a very few persons have even a semblance of knowledge about mental deficiencies and those citizen unfortunates who have borne, or will travail, under the throes of such a mysterious affliction. Those people who do know the narrative of the "lunatic," too often are unwilling to reveal their expertise.Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to follow the history of those multitudes of mentally ill persons from primitive to contemporary times. One's attention will be focused upon the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of insanity in ancient Egypt and Greece, Europe during the Dark and Middle Ages, England prior to and during the adventures at empire, colonial America, Indiana prior to and after statehood, and specifically Delaware County, Indiana from 1869 through 1927.The research has shown that ages of abuse, restraints, banishment by popular consent from society, sequestration, and indifference toward the mindless in humanity have not explained the ambiguity of mental illness, dwindled man's apprehension regarding the mentally incapacitated, or put to rest his troublesome inner thoughts.In conclusion, little has changed. In contemporary times mankind tends to waver between throwing madness wholly out of perception and out of psyche, and complying with humanitarian impulses to heal the sick souls.It appears that the treatment of the mentally ill has gone full cycle. From remote but centralized places of containment in earliest times, the mentally ill were then supported rather ineffectively at county and local places in accordance with poor law regulations. Then came the advent of state-supported hospitals to replace the often despicable county and local poor farms and jails. But today the collapse of that whole system seems virtually ready to take place as funding becomes less adequate. The feeling is that the mentally ill can better be cared for at local levels. And so once again, the "unwanted" human cargo of concern will soon be back on the serpentine path to resume the life that just a little over a century ago was thought to be grossly inhumane.