Quotation by Kate Millett

In fact, the mental hygiene code, modeled originally upon the criminal code, binds the afflicted party under every method of legal restraint. The afflicted is in a sense one accused, hospitalization constituting a type of arrest, accompanied by police power and physical force both in seizure itself and in detention, where escape is prevented by locks and bars and prohibited by statute as well. Having committed no crime, one can—while drugged and unable even to comprehend the proceedings, without even counsel of one's own choosing—within a routine five-minute hearing lose one's liberty for an indeterminate period, even for life.