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They don't lock people up for being crazy anymore. They might put you in a psych ward for 72 hours and give you sedatives, but that's it.

adastra22 3y ago
...what do you define locking up to be, if not exactly that?
- cjohnson318 3y ago
  When people use the term "locked up", they aren't referring to a long weekend, they're referring to a sentence that lasts at least several months.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    If you confine me against my will for any overnight, I’d certainly describe that as “locked up”. I think I’m in the majority in that.
    - cjohnson318 3y ago
      That's fine, but if you're put in the drunk tank overnight, and then refer to that as having been "locked up", then people will reasonably assume that you had spent several months or years in jail. In context: Elizabeth Holmes has been locked up, while Anderson Lee Aldritch had a string of mental health evaluations before going on to commit mass murder.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
72 hours is a minimum incarceration. Any so-called professional expert can freely extend that at will.
- cjohnson318 3y ago
  > Any so-called professional expert can freely extend that at will. I don't believe that is accurate, but I am open to changing my mind with more details. In most states, an involuntary psychiatric commitment cannot extend beyond 72 hours without a formal hearing. This 3-day period allows patients to receive basic medical treatment, recover from psychotic episodes, and hopefully understand the need for further help. The patient has the option of remaining voluntarily under care or committing to receiving continued outpatient treatment. Nevertheless, after the first 72 hours have passed, the patient can decline to comply with any further medical treatment.
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    "Formal hearings" are a technicality. Many hospitals now have courtrooms built into them, so the doctors don't have to go anywhere. You don't attend your hearing or receive any notification of it. Court petitions go right from the doctor to the judge to the hospital and you're in for it. It's their professional, expert opinion vs. the ravings of an ignorant crazy person in crisis. You're guilty until proven innocent, and good luck finding attorneys who are into that kind of thing. The longer you've been in the system and on their radar, the more likely you'll have a track record for them to dig up and show as evidence. Saying you can't be held without a formal hearing is like saying the police can't search you without a warrant. Completely and irrefutably true by the letter of the law. I'm not sure if you've ever tried to "decline compliance" with psychiatric treatment, but that will also go on your record every time, and sooner or later there will be a solid case built to court-order your "treatment", because you're just so bothersome to the system.
    - cjohnson318 3y ago
      It's my understanding, through talking with heath professionals, that people typically come into the psych ward after having an interaction with police, and then they're let go after 72 hours. I know others that have admitted themselves, and then left after 72 hours. A lot has changed since One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest; hospital administrators have almost zero interest in keeping people any longer than they have to, since many people do not have health insurance, and sometimes present a risk to hospital staff. We have no legal way of forcibly removing people from society, for their own safety and the safety of others, until they have an interaction with police, or commit an actual crime, and then they go to jail.

adastra22 3y ago

...what do you define locking up to be, if not exactly that?

cjohnson318 3y ago
When people use the term "locked up", they aren't referring to a long weekend, they're referring to a sentence that lasts at least several months.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  If you confine me against my will for any overnight, I’d certainly describe that as “locked up”. I think I’m in the majority in that.
  - cjohnson318 3y ago
    That's fine, but if you're put in the drunk tank overnight, and then refer to that as having been "locked up", then people will reasonably assume that you had spent several months or years in jail. In context: Elizabeth Holmes has been locked up, while Anderson Lee Aldritch had a string of mental health evaluations before going on to commit mass murder.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

72 hours is a minimum incarceration. Any so-called professional expert can freely extend that at will.

cjohnson318 3y ago
> Any so-called professional expert can freely extend that at will. I don't believe that is accurate, but I am open to changing my mind with more details. In most states, an involuntary psychiatric commitment cannot extend beyond 72 hours without a formal hearing. This 3-day period allows patients to receive basic medical treatment, recover from psychotic episodes, and hopefully understand the need for further help. The patient has the option of remaining voluntarily under care or committing to receiving continued outpatient treatment. Nevertheless, after the first 72 hours have passed, the patient can decline to comply with any further medical treatment.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  "Formal hearings" are a technicality. Many hospitals now have courtrooms built into them, so the doctors don't have to go anywhere. You don't attend your hearing or receive any notification of it. Court petitions go right from the doctor to the judge to the hospital and you're in for it. It's their professional, expert opinion vs. the ravings of an ignorant crazy person in crisis. You're guilty until proven innocent, and good luck finding attorneys who are into that kind of thing. The longer you've been in the system and on their radar, the more likely you'll have a track record for them to dig up and show as evidence. Saying you can't be held without a formal hearing is like saying the police can't search you without a warrant. Completely and irrefutably true by the letter of the law. I'm not sure if you've ever tried to "decline compliance" with psychiatric treatment, but that will also go on your record every time, and sooner or later there will be a solid case built to court-order your "treatment", because you're just so bothersome to the system.
  - cjohnson318 3y ago
    It's my understanding, through talking with heath professionals, that people typically come into the psych ward after having an interaction with police, and then they're let go after 72 hours. I know others that have admitted themselves, and then left after 72 hours. A lot has changed since One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest; hospital administrators have almost zero interest in keeping people any longer than they have to, since many people do not have health insurance, and sometimes present a risk to hospital staff. We have no legal way of forcibly removing people from society, for their own safety and the safety of others, until they have an interaction with police, or commit an actual crime, and then they go to jail.