The Alaska Psychiatric Institute is a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

that provides inpatient and outpatient mental health services for the state.

Operation

The institute has a normal capacity of 72 beds with a stretch capacity of 80. There have been concerns that this is not enough to meet demand. The beds are organized into three units: medium to long term, adolescent, and secure forensic. The Joint Commission recognized the institute in 2012 for being in the top third of its national performance rankings for psychiatric hospitals.

History

The Institute opened in 1962. It was commissioned in 1956 as part of the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act which allotted 6.5 million dollars for its construction. In 1992 the institute employed 282 staff.

Incidents

In 1982, while on limited release from the institute, Charles L. Meach, who had previously beaten a man to death and been found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1973, committed four murders. In 1985 the director of the institute was taken hostage at gunpoint by a patient. The situation was resolved the following day without injuries.

Myers v. Alaska Psychiatric Institute

In 2003 Faith Myers was involuntarily committed to the institute by her family for refusing medication. The institute petitioned the Anchorage Superior Court and was authorized to compel her to take

antipsychotics Antipsychotics, also known as neuroleptics, are a class of Psychiatric medication, psychotropic medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or disordered thought), principally in schizophrenia but ...

. Meyers challenged the ruling based on Alaska's constitutional guarantees of liberty and privacy. In 2006 the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in her favor and placed greater restrictions on non-emergency involuntary psychotropic medication in the state.Hinton, Jeremy, and Robert Forrest
"Involuntary Non-emergent Psychotropic Medication."

Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law The ''Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law'' is a quarterly academic journal published by the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) is a professional organization in t ...

Online 35.3 (2007): 396-398.

References

{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1962 Psychiatric hospitals in Alaska Hospitals established in 1962