Yes you can be permanently held. I tell you this from experience. I am in the USA. I was literally in the hospital every week for about a year. I sh really bad. They sent me to a state hospital for 8 months. The only reason they let me out is because I wasn't hurting myself or anyone else in there. If I go back to the hospital for sh one more time I will go there again. Probably for the rest of my life. I know many people who are still there and some have died there. My cousin actually died there. Also you can go to the criminally insane side. They usually eventually go over to the civil side but I am certain there are those who are never getting out. What happens when you go in is you get a court date. It is held in a room at the state hospital with a judge. They decide how long you are going to stay. You have a bi monthly meeting with a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and several social workers. They basically really decide how long you will stay. I actually wanted to stay and they pushed me out. Reason being is the state is downsizing there hospital because of funds. So basically now you only stay there if you are majorly messed up and can not function in society. You have a mattress and a dresser. They have a female hall and male hall. There is staff in the center about 4. One is watching the door to the outside. One is watching the male hall. One is watching the female hall. One is watching and recording every single time you go in the bathroom. You cannot go to the bathroom for 10 min after med take because you might spit your pills. You go to the main building on a bus. You are there from 8 in the morning until 330 doing groups. The same boring groups over and over again. They arent even taught by real teachers. You can get a pass to go out with family if you are doing well enough but they search you everytime you come back. Anything you bring back has to be searched. Some people really have no hopes of getting out because they dont offer counseling. You are given a psychiatrist for meds, a psychologist that gives you all kinds of tests. Even ink blot tests to figure out what is going on with you. Then you have social workers to help you get placed somewhere if you can get out. If you are likely to get out they send you to day programs in the area you will be returning to see if you can adjust to the outside again. You do that for months before you are able to leave. You are in there with all kinds of people going off. They check on you every 10 minutes if you are in your room. It really sucks but I wanted to stay because I didnt get my problem resolved which actually was a physical problem but they saw it as psychiatric. There is a lady there who will not take her meds. She is depressed and delusional. The manager at the group home I live at says they are never letting her out. There is a catatonic lady there also never getting out. A lady who smashes her face into the wall also never getting out. They might claim they won't hold you for life but that is a lie. You only get medical treatment if you are half dead. You do not want to go there. If you are suicidal there you will have someone sitting within reaching distant 24\7 until your psychiatrist says that can be lifted. At the State hospital I was at they shut down one of the long term wards which forced me and some high functioning people out quickly. You get very little food and it's state regulated so not greatest quality. If you are fat they cut your food even more. So you may get a apple a vegetable and a piece of shady meat. The best meal there was a turkey and cheese hoagie which consisted of a large roll with barely any meat or cheese on it and chips. Sometimes people steal your food but they do try to keep an eye on that because in the lunch room they have about 4 people in there as well doing the same watching the outside door, bathroom, and two people watching you eat. Luckily the staff was nice but I heard that is not everywhere. Sometimes they snuck me pizza. They can also mandate Electric Shock Therapy and any meds they see fit. You don't have to believe me. I know it seems far fetched but I was there for 8 long months. One thing they do which is kind of stupid is if you are goid you can get ground privileges. They let you out to walk the non gated hospital grounds. You could easily walk off. There was a police station sitting at the front of the hospital so you couldn't get far. I was tempted to walk to McDonald's lol. One day on grounds I did sneak up to the old abandoned part of the hospital up on the hill. There was a window ajar where the homeless had been hiding in there. I really like old buildings and the paranormal so I was going to go in and look around but I was so afraid the floor would cave in. I was going to write a note that said hey if y'all cant find me I'm in the old hospital but they check the rooms every 1O minutes so they would have come to get me before I could make it in to see anything. In the state hospital you are not eligible for insurance state money pays it all which is why you get crappy medical care. When you first arrive there they take a chest cray and some blood. Anything else you have to be on deaths door and that's mainly just to make sure you dont have tuberculosis or HIV.