Recently, significant research effort has focused on using Twitter and Facebook (and other social media) to investigate mental health at the population-level.

 Who can be involuntarily hospitalized?

The legal standards specifying the criteria for civil commitment vary widely from state to state, and may have changed in some states since the publication of this book. The clinician must be aware of the specific criteria for his or her own state. The presence of a mental illness is a prerequisite for civil commitment. Other criteria frequently include dangerous behavior toward self or others, grave disability, and the need for treatment. Over the past three decades there has been a general shift among most states from standards based on the individual’s need for treatment to standards that require the person to be considered dangerous to self or others. However, some states have recently modified their statutes to allow for involuntary hospitalization of persons who are in need of treatment but are not imminently dangerous to themselves or others.