15649. DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY AND THE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT: INVOLUNTARY CIVIL COMMITMENT AND TREATMENT. This paper provides an overview and analysis of the deprivation of individual liberty encompassed in the process and act of involuntary civil commitment and related involuntary treatment. The focus of this paper is confined to involuntary civil commitments arising within the community (versus involuntary treatment of prisoners or involuntary commitment of sexual predators following their completion of criminal sentence). Describes the rationale for commitment, reviews the history of commitment law in the U.S., and discusses the possible solutions to the problems posed by involuntary civil commitment. KEYWORDS: involuntary treatment psychiatry commitment psychiatric. APA Style. 15 pages, 43 footnotes, 15 bibliographic sources. 3,853 words.