Rx: A Tincture of Coercion in Outpatient Treatment?
Jeffrey L. Geller M.D.,M.P.H.1
1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655
Mental health professionals and others have wondered about the mesources necessary to conduct involuntary outpatient treatment and whether these dollars will be well spent. While we do not yet know the answer to this question, and while sound legal structures through which to conduct involuntary outpatient treatment continue to evolve, knowledgeable commentators none- the less call for the widespread use of involuntary outpatient treatment (1). Concurrently, lawyers with a civil liberties perspective call for its demise (2,10). Neither call is sound. No death knell is warranted. But we do need more data to confirm what I believe to be the case—coerced outpatient treatment appropriately applied is a therapeutic endeavor that is both beneficent and beneficial.
