I thought it meant that she fought to make it easier to commit the mentally ill. Just a suggestion but maybe adding a word would make things clear. Such as:

She fought against making it easier to commit the mentally ill -- then found herself committed!

Just read the first three comments, such compassion in this country...

Outpatient services in Virginia are pathetic. We are very low on the list of states for spending the mentally ill. The group homes many times are hellholes and could make you crazy.
After Cho and we decided in Virginia it was easier to blame the mentally ill rather than deal with our gun issue there was supposed to be outpatient commitments. Rarely see that happen. Not enough case managers. I've worked on several states and Virginia does not have the kinds of therapuetic outpatient services that young adults with mental illness require to live to their highest potential.
After deeds rather than building more beds we now have to take people from anywhere in Virginia. That means we may get a patient that lives 4 hours from the hospital they land in. We uproot them and wind up sending them to the shelter here. Some of them never get "home".
We admit people who belong in jail and take up a bed that a mentally ill person needs because the police will tell someone being a pain in the ass they can go to jail or the hospital. The reverse is also true. If a mentally ill person is disorderly or trespassing in the community if there are no psych beds they wind up in jail.
The reaction to cho and deeds did not make it better for the mentally ill it just made it easier for the rest of us to stash them away.

Several things in that story told me that Alison could have other physical problems that were undiagnosed/untreated. Also it seemed like she was caught in a vicious cycle of medication and medical problems leading to behavior (lethargy) that led to the "diagnosis" of Alison not being able to take care of herself which led to her being put in a situation that was stressful/untenable for her (locked up) which just made things worse. And now she's been down this rabbit hole for years.

I feel a deep twinge of sympathy - it's hard enough to get doctors to poor people in California, where there is Medi-Cal. Currently suffering sleep disorders from too low blood pressure plus medication plus neurologic medication known to put people to sleep during the day plus inability to use cpap machine because I'm suddenly dropping off to sleep at odd times and odd places. This was kicked down the curb by my primary doctor 6 weeks ago because she was overbooked. I just saw her yesterday, and she was overbooked again, so once again we didn't get to this issue - even though she was holding multiple letters from my neurologist, pulmonologist, and 2 ER visits that more or less should have screamed GET TO IT! I've repeatedly asked for closer drug monitoring as well, and I've been denied it because nothing I'm taking is officially on the DEA's controlled substance list. After aborted appointment I attempted to make another appointment, but I couldn't because my doctor is booked through March.

Does this count as medical neglect/abuse yet?

I was feeling great in the summer. I was thrown off kilter by being dropped by Medi-Cal, and I needed more specific attention to undo the damage that caused and get the meds I was on re-balanced. Instead, I have been continually dragged through this state of lethargy and sleep irregularity - and yes it feels psychologically depressing, too. If I'm diagnosed with bipolar now, I'm going to march into a court of law and swear before a judge on a stack of Bibles that the medical system inflicted it on me.

Well this is probably TMI once again, but sometimes I feel I really can shed some light on these posts that most people would get. And one thing I'd like to point out here is that even in the bohemian utopia that is California the medical system is perfectly capable of INDUCING the symptoms originally attributed to Allison before she was institutionalized. I've been fighting this off for 5 months now while waiting for my case to reach *red alert* status in my obviously over-committed doctor's mind.

He believes bipolar disorder is "made up" and "the latest fad" and therefore that would disqualify Alison from taking up a bed:

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/01/30/fox-host-tells-caller-her-bipolar-disorder-is-m/202349