[Compulsory psychiatric treatment and the patients' perspective].

OBJECTIVE

Topic of this article is an investigation on the patients' perspective of involuntary treatment in psychiatry. The results of two studies are presented.

METHODS

The first study surveyed 40 patients involuntarily admitted to the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany, according to the commitment law. The interviews were carried out within the first days of admission. The second study carried out a retrospective follow-up of 47 court-committed patients; the mean period between commitment and follow-up was 29 months.

RESULTS

The majority of patients evaluated the involuntary treatment as not justified--both in direct context and in a long distance to it. A substantial part of the sample, however, showed insight into illness and treatment at the time of follow-up. Extreme positions were preferred; an ambivalent attitude was rare.

CONCLUSIONS

It is necessary to pay attention to the events around the involuntary treatment individually and to offer systematic aftercare.