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Briefing Paper
THE EFFECTS OF INVOLUNTARY MEDICATION ON
INDIVIDUALS
WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND MANIC-DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS
SUMMARY: Patients with psychiatric disorders refuse medications for a variety of reasons, including experience with, or fear of, side effects. In other cases, the refusal is based on lack of awareness of illness or on delusional beliefs. Many such patients must ultimately be medicated involuntarily. Studies suggest that the long-term effects of involuntary medication on individuals with schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness (bipolar disorder) are more positive than is commonly thought. In most studies, the majority of patients retrospectively agreed that involuntary medication had been in their best interest. Anecdotal claims by opponents of involuntary medication that involuntary treatment has widespread, devastating, and lasting effects are not supported by these studies.
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Do you have a mental illness?
definitely/probably not - 47%
dont know - 9%
definitely/probably do - 44%How helpful was your guardianship?
very/fairly helpful - 45%
neutral - 21%
very/fairly unhelpful - 34%
There was a high correlation between patients who believed they had a mental illness and those who found the guardianship helpful (p < .01). The authors concluded that "although a majority of the patients were against enforced treatment in principle, often because they thought it conflicted with their civil rights, most found the actual experience, including medication, to be helpful."
Retrospectively, 18 patients (60 percent) said that having medication forced was a good idea, 9 (30 percent) disagreed, and 3 (10 percent) were unsure. Most of those who disagreed had either paranoid schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with grandiosity. The authors concluded that "forced medication frequently restores the capacity to make competent decisions and often results in a more rapid return of freedom to be discharged from involuntary hospitalization."
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