Patients who were committed to the Niuvanniemi Hospital, 1 of 2 state mental hospitals in Finland, by December 31, 2001, were given an anonymous questionnaire during January 2002 (n=260). A total of 164 patients completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on respondents' opinions about various forms of treatment provided by the hospital, as well as their opinions on their need to be hospitalized at the time of their commitment and at the time of completing the questionnaire. They were also queried about their views on the abuse of psychiatric treatment in Finland. The patients surveyed were not commonly involved in normal interactive relationships with other people, and their insight was extremely limited due to paranoid attitudes and severe social incapacitation. Most of them had schizophrenia, and the most common diagnosis was paranoid schizophrenia. More than half had been committed to the hospital after a serious criminal offense. The survey responses indicated that a surprising number of patients eventually accepted their need to be hospitalized, which contrasted with the clinical finding that almost all patients had no real insight or acceptance regarding their treatment soon after being committed. In spite of their serious illness, many respondents (80 percent) had learned to accept their medication. They also reported that their experience was helpful. Occupational therapy was often reported to be helpful. The most important study finding was that the socially incapable and paranoid respondents reported that personal psychiatric nurses were helpful. Every patient has a personal psychiatric nurse. This study advises that the challenge for the future is to teach the nursing staff to educate patients more systematically about the importance of medication and the symptoms of acute phases of psychosis, which may require the use of seclusion in the context of safe therapeutic relationships. 3 tables and 28 references