Profile and costs involved in long-term compulsory hospitalization of psychiatric patients.

Objective: Involuntary hospitalization for acute psychiatry cases can be acceptable when there is potential harm. However, there are few reasons for a patient committed on these grounds to stay in an institution for a long period. The objective of the present study was to identify the profile and costs of compulsory hospitalizations over 20 days in a public psychiatric hospital in the coastal region of the state of São Paulo.