I work at an inpatient hospital . The paper she signed was likely called a section 10 , which is considered a voluntary commitment . What that means is that she agrees that she needed help and is agreeing to treatment per the doctor ' s discretion . This DOES NOT in any way mean that she will be there indefinitely . There is something called a three day . Generally , patients are encouraged to sign this if they disagree with the doctor ' s choice in treatment . So say your girlfriend feels ready to leave but the doctor doesn ' t think so . That would be a reason . However . That being said . What the three day allows is the doctor has up to THREE BUSINESS DAYS 72 hours , not including weekendsholidays , and it begins the day after she signs it to evaluate her . I ' m not sure of Illinois law , so this is based on my state ' s law . If , at the end of three days , the doctor feels she is ready to leave , he can discharge her . If he doesn ' t feel that she is ready to leave , he can take her to court to have her commited on an involuntary basis . Again , HOWEVER , this does not mean she will be there forever . I have seen patients commited for two days , just because the doctor wanted them to have a little more time . I have also seen patients commited for much longer . So the request that site is referring to is that three day form I talked about . It seems super scary , but it ' s not totally as bad as people think although I don ' t know your exact situation . Your girlfriend is also entitled to a lawyer and they should have a number for her to call to get legal advice . Side note , they tend to try different meds than she has been on bc if she ' s there , that means they ' re not working as well as they should be . Also super important , make sure she documents as much as she can and absolutely get her to call that lawyer if she ' s been given too much medication . Medically speaking they do occasionally have to skip her meds because her blood pressurepulse may be too low for certain meds and also they have a window of time they ' re allowed to give the meds and they can ' t go beyond that . Hope this helps ! Edit This link might be u s e f u l i n f o r m a t i o n m e n t a l i l l n e s s p a t i e n t s a d m i ssiondischargeandtransfer