Admission Patterns at South Carolina's State Psychiatric Hospitals following Legislative Reform

Abstract

Despite the last revision of South Carolina's mental health law in 1977, multivariate analyses of social, legal, and clinical variables for inpatient hospitalization in 1981 reveal that the state's mental hospitals are still a dumping ground for minority groups and those who are at a disadvantage with regard to the law. Emergency commitments have increased over 300% since passage of the new law, and approximately half of these commitments result in release at the subsequent probate hearing.