This paper represents a replication-study on the subject of involuntary hospitalisation in three large cities and a rural area of the Netherlands, over the years 1984-1988. A new tendency appears to be developing: the number of involuntary hospitalisations, which had been on the increase during the years preceding 1984, decreased for several years and has been increasing again in 1987/88. Regional differences are considerable, possibly due to differences in procedures and views on policy, changes in the various institutions for mental health care and new problem-groups within the population.