Introduction to this Issue: Mandated Community Treatment
Treating people who do not want treatment has always been the flagship human rights issue in mental health law. The use of involuntary treatment and attempts to limit it were at the core of the development of mental health law three decades ago and involuntary treatment continues to be hotly debated today. What is new about involuntary treatment at the beginning of the 21st century is that it occurs more and more often in the open community rather than in closed institutions. Involuntary or ‘‘questionably voluntary’’ outpatient treatment has come to characterize the care provided by many mental health professionals on a daily basis, and has begun to affect the legal principles that have traditionally regulated the lives of people with mental illnesses. More specifically, people with mental illnesses often interact with the social welfare system and with the judicial system. In both of these contexts, they face loss of valued interests if they fail to adhere to prescribed mental health treatment. As a result, the role of ‘‘coercion’’ in the lives of people with mental illnesses is if anything more important today than it has ever been (Monahan et al., 2001).