Involuntary outpatient commitment for the chronically mentally ill.

Involuntary outpatient treatment: the data and controversy

Involuntary Outpatient Commitment, also referred to as Assisted Outpatient Treatment or Community Treatment Orders, are controversial civil court procedures whereby judges may order non-adherent mentally ill individuals to comply with treatment. This presentation will summarize the data and controversy about these procedures and put them in the context of the larger debate about the use of coer...

Can involuntary outpatient commitment reduce hospital recidivism?: Findings from a randomized trial with severely mentally ill individuals.

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of involuntary outpatient commitment in reducing rehospitalizations among individuals with severe mental illnesses. METHOD Subjects who were hospitalized involuntarily were randomly assigned to be released (N = 135) or to continue under outpatient commitment (N = 129) after hospital discharge and followed for 1 year. Each subj...

Assisted outpatient treatment comes to California--or does it?

After five years of legislative tussling, California has passed a law, written by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (a former psychiatric nurse), that purports to provide for court-ordered (involuntary) outpatient treatment for certain persons with mental illness. The law, which went into effect January 1, 2003, is alternatively titled Laura’s Law and The Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration P...

Defending the Mentally Ill: A Discussion of Nebraska's Involuntary Commitment Proceedings

The mentally ill homeless: evolving involuntary commitment issues.