Good measures for coercive psychiatric treatment
Coercive means of psychiatric treatment involve involuntary admission, detention after voluntary admission, mechanical restraint, seclusion, and forced medication. Such measures vary vastly across different European countries in terms of rate of occurrence, type and legal conditions. The gaps in such differences bring to light the possibility of infringing on patient rights as well as not following the best practices. In light of this, the EUNOMIA project conducted a case study using a naturalistic approach which spanned 12 European regions in 12 countries. Data was gathered on coercive practices, their influences and results. A qualitative methodology consisting of two feedback loops with all the centres was put into effect. In this way, common clinical standards for the coercive treatment measures could be recommended. A range of important issues aiming to improve the quality of procedures for the benefit of the patient were addressed with the recommendations. For example, the recommendations for involuntary hospital admission included pre-conditions, the professionals/persons addressed, ethical issues and practical issues referring to procedures as well as to other persons. The hope was to gather up best clinical practices of coercive psychiatric treatment in order to widely distribute the information.