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. 2020 Aug 24;63(1):e82.
doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2020.79.

Compulsory admissions of patients with mental disorders: State of the art on ethical and legislative aspects in 40 European countries

D Wasserman  1   2 , G Apter  3   4 , C Baeken  5   6 , S Bailey  1   7 , J Balazs  8   9 , C Bec  2 , P Bienkowski  10   11 , J Bobes  12   13 , M F Bravo Ortiz  14   15 , H Brunn  1   16   17 , Ö Bôke  18   19 , N Camilleri  20   21 , B Carpiniello  22   23   24 , J Chihai  25   26 , E Chkonia  27   28 , P Courtet  29   30   31 , D Cozman  32   33 , M David  3   34 , G Dom  35   36 , A Esanu  25   37 , P Falkai  38   39 , W Flannery  40   41 , K Gasparyan  42   43 , G Gerlinger  38 , P Gorwood  29   44 , O Gudmundsson  45   46 , C Hanon  1   47 , A Heinz  38   48 , M J Heitor Dos Santos  49   50 , A Hedlund  51   52 , F Ismayilov  53   54 , N Ismayilov  53   55 , E T Isometsä  56   57 , L Izakova  58   59 , A Kleinberg  60   61 , T Kurimay  22   62 , S Klæbo Reitan  62   63   64 , D Lecic-Tosevski  65   66   67 , A Lehmets  60   68 , N Lindberg  56   69 , K A Lundblad  51   70 , G Lynch  71 , C Maddock  71 , U F Malt  63   72 , L Martin  40   73 , I Martynikhin  74   75 , N O Maruta  76   77 , F Matthys  5   78 , R Mazaliauskiene  79   80 , G Mihajlovic  65   81 , A Mihaljevic Peles  82   83 , V Miklavic  84   85 , P Mohr  86   87 , M Munarriz Ferrandis  14 , M Musalek  1   88   89 , N Neznanov  74   90 , G Ostorharics-Horvath  8 , I Pajević  91   92 , A Popova  1   93   94 , P Pregelj  84   95 , E Prinsen  96 , C Rados  97   98 , A Roig  14   99 , M Rojnic Kuzman  82   83 , J Samochowiec  10   22   100 , N Sartorius  1   101 , Y Savenko  102 , O Skugarevsky  103   104 , E Slodecki  71 , A Soghoyan  42   105 , D S Stone  2 , R Taylor-East  20   21 , E Terauds  106   107 , C Tsopelas  66   108 , C Tudose  32   109 , S Tyano  1 , P Vallon  110 , R J Van der Gaag  1   111 , P Varandas  49   112 , L Vavrusova  1   58 , P Voloshyn  76   113 , J Wancata  97   114 , J Wise  1   115 , Z Zemishlany  116 , F Öncü  18   117 , S Vahip  22   118
Affiliations

Compulsory admissions of patients with mental disorders: State of the art on ethical and legislative aspects in 40 European countries

D Wasserman et al. Eur Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Compulsory admission procedures of patients with mental disorders vary between countries in Europe. The Ethics Committee of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) launched a survey on involuntary admission procedures of patients with mental disorders in 40 countries to gather information from all National Psychiatric Associations that are members of the EPA to develop recommendations for improving involuntary admission processes and promote voluntary care.

Methods: The survey focused on legislation of involuntary admissions and key actors involved in the admission procedure as well as most common reasons for involuntary admissions.

Results: We analyzed the survey categorical data in themes, which highlight that both medical and legal actors are involved in involuntary admission procedures.

Conclusions: We conclude that legal reasons for compulsory admission should be reworded in order to remove stigmatization of the patient, that raising awareness about involuntary admission procedures and patient rights with both patients and family advocacy groups is paramount, that communication about procedures should be widely available in lay-language for the general population, and that training sessions and guidance should be available for legal and medical practitioners. Finally, people working in the field need to be constantly aware about the ethical challenges surrounding compulsory admissions.

Keywords: Awareness; European Psychiatric Association (EPA); National Psychiatric Associations (NPAs); communication; compulsory admission; education; ethics and human rights; involuntary admission; legal model; medical model; psychiatry in Europe; stigma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Involuntary admission reasons divided in two categories.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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