Voluntary commitment is the act or practice of choosing to admit oneself to a psychiatric hospital, or other mental health facility.
In some jurisdictions, a distinction is drawn between formal and informal voluntary commitment, and this may have an effect on how much notice the individual must give before leaving the hospital.
[3][4] People who are detained by mental health law are referred to as formal patients.
Germany, England, France and Italy deinstitutionalized psychiatric care in the second half of the 20th century, but the speed and methods by which it was implemented varied, notably due to differences in social and political contexts.
Until the 1968 Mariotti Law introducing voluntary internment, admission into a psychiatric hospital was only by compulsory commitment and was entered in an individual's criminal records.