Prevalence of involuntary hospitalization in patients with depressive disorders

Introduction Depression is a disabling disorder with a high socio-economic impact. It might require hospitalization for symptom control and/or harm prevention. Other depressive disorders might as well require hospitalization in benefit of the patient. Hospitalization may be involuntary. Hospitalization willfulness in depressive patients has not been systematically studied in recent years. Objective The aim of this study is to explore the necessity of involuntary hospitalization in patients presenting depressive symptoms at the emergency service that were later diagnosed with a depressive disorder. Materials and methods From all patients visited in the psychiatric emergency service from 2012 to April 2015 those that were hospitalized in the acute mental health unit and diagnosed with a depressive disorder were studied. All those monopolar depression diagnoses were considered, excluding those within the bipolar spectrum. Diagnosis followed CIE-9 criteria. A descriptive cross-sectional study of the samples was then conducted. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill.). Results From all 385 depressive disorders, 169 were involuntary admissions (43.9%), 196 were voluntary (50.9%) and 20 were scheduled (5.2%), difference was statistically significant ( P P Conclusions Most depressive disorders were hospitalized voluntarily. However, a relevant percentage of patients required involuntary hospitalization. Younger patients presented a higher ratio of involuntary hospitalization. Reasons for involuntary hospitalization needs should be further studied.