Community treatment orders: profile of a Canadian experience.

Why are community treatment orders controversial?

The use of community treatment orders and other forms of mandatory outpatient treatment has been controversial. The debate on the appropriateness of compulsory treatment in the community addresses a volatile mix of clinical, social policy, legal, and philosophical issues. This paper describes the major sources of contention, outlines the position of the protagonists, and where possible, attempt...

Authors should have gotten the facts right on community treatment orders.

Community treatment orders: an uncertain step.

W henever organized psychiatry claims to speak for the rights of others, it is perhaps time to step back and reevaluate the landscape—for altruism has had, at times, a dark heart. Community treatment orders (CTOs), controversial tools now widely adopted in various guises, have sparked a debate within (and without) the profession. Although it makes for odd bedfellows and splits between colleague...

Community treatment orders for psychiatric patients: the emperor with no clothes.

H ow does society protect some of its most vulnerable and disadvantaged patients while respecting individual autonomy? This is the dilemma facing many Canadian jurisdictions as they consider the extension of compulsory treatment to community settings. Canada is not unique but part of a trend to enforce outpatient treatment in many jurisdictions, including Australia, New Zealand, the United Stat...

Involuntary outpatient commitment, community treatment orders, and assisted outpatient treatment: what's in the data?

OBJECTIVE Involuntary outpatient commitment (OPC), also referred to as community treatment orders or assisted outpatient treatment, is a legal intervention intended to improve treatment adherence among persons with serious mental illness. This paper reviews the empirical literature on the procedure's effectiveness. METHODS We identified and reviewed all English-language studies of OPC and rel...