Objectives:
The aim of this study was to perform an analysis of the risk factors of long-term psychiatric detention, defined as a stay in forensic institution exceeding respectively 60 and 84 months, based on data obtained from 150 patients from medium secure forensic psychiatry unit. The discussion was preceded by an analysis of the available literature in this field. The sociodemographic factors, the course of the mental disorder, the characteristic of committed criminal acts, aggressive or self-destructive behavior and the clinical characteristic of the illness in the last 6 months of psychiatric detention were analyzed.

Methods:
A pilot study was based on a retrospective analysis of data from medical records and psychiatric experts’ opinions of a cross-sectional nature. Due to the variables’ characteristic, the Student’s t-tests, Spearman’s correlation and the Kruskal–Wallis rank ANOVA were used.

Results:
Risk of long-term hospitalization significantly correlated with factors related to the course of the last 6 months of inpatient treatment, including the mental state of patients, the occurrence of aggressive behaviors and the response to pharmacological treatment. There was no significant effect of demographic factors or coexisting addiction to alcohol and psychoactive substances. The risk of long-term psychiatric detention increased with the duration of the illness. There were no correlations with the age of the patients at the time of admission nor number of detentions. The nature of the diagnosis was also not found to be a risk factor.

Conclusions:
Our study is the first systematic attempt to assess the risk factors of long-term psychiatric detention in a group of patients of forensic psychiatry centers in Poland. We hope that the presented results will rise a discussion on the shape of psychiatric care in Poland and encourage further research in this area, as well as they will contribute to the optimization of the treatment process.