Depressed patients must be hospitalized immediately when they have suicide attempts, serious suicidal ideation, or suicide plans. Every depressed person needs to be evaluated in detail by a specialist for suicidal risk. Although severe depression impairs life and social functioning, most patients usually have only mild suicidal ideation and often lack sufficient courage to carry it out. Therefore, the patient’s opinion on whether to be hospitalized should also be fully heard, and no one should force the patient to be hospitalized except for the risk of occurrence or suicidal self-injurious behavior. Hospitalization usually requires a chaperone, but patients should be allowed to go through the admission procedures themselves whenever possible. Depressed patients are usually hospitalized for a relatively short period of time, about 3-4 weeks, and can be treated out of hospital once their condition has stabilized and antidepressant medication is effective. Throughout the course of treatment doctors assess the patient’s suicide risk on a weekly basis, and when the patient’s medication begins to take effect, they will again enter a period of high risk for suicide, when close supervision is required.