Involuntary Mental Health Treatment: The Mental Health Consumer as Expert

Abstract

Involuntary treatment in mental health has existed since society first began trying to tackle the issue of mental illness (Dennis & Monahan, 1996). Despite controversy on both sides of the issue, involuntary treatment continues to be used in current mental health service delivery. Practitioners and policy makers have engaged in lively debates about the merits of involuntary treatment, but few studies have engaged affected consumers in this discussion. This article reports on a small qualitative study in North Carolina that attempted to collect the stories of mental health consumers who had been involuntarily hospitalized due to symptoms of mental illness at some point in their lives. Study participants were also asked to critique the elements of the contemporary involuntary treatment and offer their ideas about improving it.

Keywords:

• involuntary treatment
• mental health
• consumer

Acknowledgments

This study was funded in part by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.