[Compulsory admissions to Frederiksberg Hospital after introduction of the new psychiatric legislation compared with the period just before the change of the law].

The new Danish Act on confinement and other means of compulsion in psychiatry came into force October 1st, 1989. To investigate changes connected with the new act all involuntary commitments to the psychiatric department of the hospital of Frederiksberg, with a catchment area of 85,000 inhabitants, were prospectively registered during 23 months before, 25 months after the new legislation. Information about the commitment was obtained from the admission papers and the case records. The patients were asked to participate in an interview. Both before and after the new act there were about 35 commitments per year. There was a trend towards an increasing number of women being committed by reason of threat to the patient's health after the new act. No significant changes were observed regarding age, condition at admission, diagnoses, duration of hospitalization or condition at discharge. A little more than half of the committed patients participated in the interviews. The new act stressed the rights of the patients. In spite of this the patients did not express any increase in their understanding of or satisfaction with their hospitalization.