This book does not sugarcoat one of the most difficult decisions in modern psychiatry.  Undoubtedly, you will ask yourself, "What would I do?" 

~Pete Earley, author of Crazy: A Father's Search through American's Mental Health Madness

 This is actually a book on psychiatric ethics, but it is presented in a disarming, journalistic style. The ethical tensions with which this issue is loaded are unpacked in a clear, accessible way, articulating not just the questions, but also offering sensible and realistic conclusions. 

~ Mark Komrad, M.D., author of You Need Help

To buy Committed on Amazon click here

Reviews

The Washington Post

  Their stories, and those of others in the book, raise a crucial question: For society at large, is forced treatment helpful or harmful? Amazingly, the authors found no research in this area and are left to conclude, “We don’t know if committing people to the hospital prevents suicide and homicide or drives people away from getting care in the future, perhaps leaving them even more vulnerable.”  Full review

~Damon Tweedy, author of Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflection on Race and Medicine.

Goodreads
The thing that strikes me most about this book is the care and consideration that went into it. Miller and Hanson, psychiatrists, never deride anyone for their views. They sat across the table from people who think their profession is basically evil and held a civil, thoughtful conversation. If there's an outrageous factual error they'll mention it in passing with research to back them up, but otherwise everyone is allowed to say their piece exactly as they'd like in a non-confrontational environment. Full Review
~Kazen
Hopkins Medicine

   Mental Health at it's Most Harrowing

Many things can go wrong when a person with severe mental illness is involuntarily committed, just as terrible things can happen—mass shootings, for example—when such a person is not identified or committed. It’s also possible for involuntary commitment to have a good result, eventually, despite being a dramatic, emotionally harrowing and potentially shattering event.
With Committed, Miller and Hanson prove themselves to be extraordinarily thorough and even-handed reporters who cover an enormous subject from every conceivable angle. Full Review
~Neil A. Grauer 

Psychiatric Times
Candid and sensitive interviews with patients who have suffered from the way in which commitment and involuntary treatment were deployed are groundbreaking. For psychiatrists, who often develop feelings of stewardship for our patients’ vulnerabilities, it will touch your heart.
The authors interview some other remarkable people: a patient who was involuntarily committed who went on to become a psychiatrist; a crisis intervention police officer who is followed into the field; and the celebrated Judge Leifman in Dade County, Florida, who has accomplished reform in mental health approaches for the incarcerated that is becoming a model of its kind. Full Review.
~Mark Komrad, M.D. 

The Journal of the America Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
In Committed: The Battle over Involuntary Psychiatric Care, Dinah Miller, MD and Annette Hanson, MD do an excellent job of presenting the views of multiple stakeholders. Despite my years as a psychiatrist, I came away from reading this book with a much more nuanced understanding of the benefits, complexities, and challenges of involuntary psychiatric care.
~Robert L. Trestman, M.D.
Full review

Library Review Journal
The bulk of the book then covers the realities of psychiatric commitment in various settings and innovative criminal justice diversion programs. Additional topics include an insightful discussion of the impact of mental illness and involuntary treatment on public safety concerns such as gun control, violence, and mass murder.  
~Antoinette Brinkman

Choice Connect 

Committed is a very informative and thought-provoking book. Miller (psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine) and Hanson (psychiatry, Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine) provide readers with clinical and legal information and patient and/or family anecdotes on involuntary psychiatric treatment. There are so many excellent sections that it is difficult to summarize in a review. In their description of involuntary psychopharmacological treatment and/or restraint, the authors present all sides of the issues related to patients and family members, mental health professionals, legal aspects, law enforcement, and emergency care professionals. The detailed, first person patient accounts make the experience of involuntary psychiatric care come alive. The reader follows accounts of other patient cases for and against psychiatric treatment, and in these vignettes he or she gains knowledge of the difficult sides of the issues pertaining to psychiatric treatment against one’s will. The authors round out the picture by providing readers with an excellent portrayal of how professionals deal with the problem of involuntary treatment of acutely and severely ill psychiatric patients. An overarching theme of this significant book is that there is a lack of accessible, comprehensive psychiatric care, which impacts both providers and patients.
--M. C. Matteis, Regis College

Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

 


Mad In America: Full Review by Sandra Steingard, M.D. 
Clinical Psychiatry News: Full Review by Rebecca Twersky-Kengmana, M.D. 
Reading the End blog: Full Review

Links to more reviews:
Weill Cornell Medical News: Full Review
Dr. Lloyd Sederer's review on Psychology Today's website: Full Review