How can you have mentally ill committed in PA? (serious answers only!)?

Question:

I watched a show on CNN called 'criminally insane' about having people committed and PA is one of the states where this option is available. My family would like to have my uncle committed who we beleive is mentally ill. It's a long story but I'll tell you the most recent thing he has done - he got on a bus and went down to Georgia state on a bus (almost 2 day ride) without any clothes or anything. He didn't tell us where he was going, now he has called from down there and says he is returning on the bus! This incident follows a STEADY decline in his behavior and attitude, he was recently fired from a job he had for 10 years. Where can I find more info on having a family member committed in PA?

Answers:
I would try very very hard to persuade your uncle to get treatment voluntarily (including inpatient). He may never forgive your family for an involuntary commitment. by "kind of stains your record" the PA mental health worker who answered your question is saying that a person will always be at risk for commitments, and can never own a gun, so if your uncle is a deer hunter, and gets great treatment and always acts normal foreverafter, his important activity in life is gone forever. And none of his relatives in the same house can have rifles either. Now I know a heck of a lot of people who would be upset by that, and never forgive. Also, some facilities are abusive, if he is under a commitment, he can't find a better place. Also, if he is given too many drugs, overmedicated, he cannot negotiate with the doc for a better combo of meds, or taper off the dose on one of them, etc.

Go to nami.org to see if you can find more information. There is probably a local chapter too. Also, he can be held on something called a 72 hour hold while psychiatrists evaluate him, and you can try to get him to check in voluntarily.

I can tell you, if my family involuntarily commited me during a bad time, I would never ever ever forgive them. I have been in several very abusive mental hospitals (and more good ones), I do not want that kind of record, and it feels like a rape. Use it only as a last result to save him, don't use it to save him embarrassment. If you need to do it to save his life, then maybe you will just have to live with the fallout. Maybe he would see it otherwise, in the long run. But don't count on being rewarded for your good deed.

Sounds like he is manic depressive Bi-Polar disorder. Sounds like something that my uncle did when he went to Africa for absolutely no reason.

I lived in PA my whole life and work in mental health. I know that there is nothing wrong with being crazy. You could ride the bus naked, you could pee all over yourself in public. However, once you become a threat to yourself or someone else the family could commit you. First of all you go to the local emergency room. They will evaluate the patient and from there be taken to a local psychiatric facility. The family can commit you under these circumstances...but usually the patient will sign themself in because if you are put there involuntarily, it kind of stains your record. You could contact your local emergency room and they may be able to help.

In order for someone to be legally committed that must be judged either a danger to themselves or others, or gravely disabled. You will need to have a psychiatrist to sign the commitment papers stating this, then you will need to go to court where the judge will decide if there is sufficient evidence to have someone legally committed.

Most of the time, a person can only be "voluntarily committed" if they pose a threat to themselves or others. Just riding the bus does not really pose a threat to anyone, including himself.

However, if he threatened to take a life, or if he believed he had to kill the aliens, those actions and statements could pose a threat.

It is very difficult to get someone committed.

How can you have mentally ill committed in PA? (serious answers only!)?

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