The rise in the number of mentally ill people sectioned while in police custody or while in hospital has been described as "extremely worrying" by campaigners.
More than 10,000 people were detained this year under the Mental Health Act while in police cells or in hospitals, through community treatment orders, figures showed on Wednesday.
The number of people detained under the Mental Health Act reached a total of 48,600 last year, an increase of 2,300 on 2010/11, according to data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).
The number of mentally ill people detained rose by 5%
People with mental disorders can be detained to ensure they get the care and treatment they need for their own health or safety or for the protection of other people.
The number of people who have been detained in hospital and then released subject to supervised community treatment orders (CTOs) has also increased.
The orders, which are put into place to ensure that patients comply with treatment, rose to 4,200 in 2011/12, an increase of 400 on the previous year.
Between 2011 and 2012, an estimated 8,667 orders were made where the place of safety was a police custody suite - accounting for 37% of such orders.
Simon Lawton-Smith, head of policy at the Mental Health Foundation said: "It's extremely worrying that increasing numbers of people are being subject to restrictions under the Mental Health Act.
Community Treatment Orders are used more amongst certain patient groups
"We have for many years been pumping extra resources into better community care for people with a mental illness. Yet we are clearly not addressing everyone's needs.
"Recent cuts to mental health services will only make the situation worse. But we need commissioners to be bold in investing more in prevention and early intervention services, to reduce the number of people who become so unwell that they need expensive compulsory treatment in the future.
"The reported increase in the number of people subject to a CTO is a particular concern. We know they are used disproportionately among some patient groups, such as black African-Caribbean men.
"We need better evidence that they are being applied appropriately as a less restrictive alternative to hospital detention, and not just as a way of freeing up scarce beds."
The report also shows that almost two in five people thought to be mentally ill by police officers are detained in police custody suites - not hospitals.
Under the 1983 Mental Health Act, a police officer may "remove" a person who is believed or appears to be suffering from a mental disorder to a place of safety.
Between 2011 and 2012, an estimated 8,667 orders were made where the place of safety was a police custody suite - accounting for 37% of such orders.
Police stations are not the "ideal" places to be if you're mentally ill, according to one expert
HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan added: "This is the first time figures have been available showing the total number of detentions in police custody under the Mental Health Act of people in need of a place of safety.
"Many people working in the area of mental health will be interested to know the extent to which police custody is being used and the fact that more than one in three place of safety orders is to police custody rather than a hospital."
Professor Matthew Hotopf, of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said it was interesting to see how common it was for people to be held in police custody suites.
"Police suites are not ideal places for people who have acute psychotic illnesses," he said.
"If you imagine being disturbed and paranoid, a police station is not the best place to end up."