What is it about?

This article is a literature review of: 1) psychotic disorders and dangerousness, 2) long term studies of psychotic patients treated with, to without psychotropic medication; 3) studies assessing if mental health commitments, forced orders to treat or assertive community treatment interventions are effective; 4) treatment outcomes of programs not using, or minimally using, psychotropic medications to treat psychotic disorders.

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Why is it important?

Public media often wrongfully reports that people with mental illnesses: 1) are dangerous, 2) are dangerousness because they do not take psychotropic medication, 3) need to take psychotropic medication to remain stable, 4) do not fully recover from their disorder, 5) need to be forced into treatment so they remain stable.

Perspectives

Prior to researching the long term effects of psychotropic medication usage with people diagnosed with psychotic disorders, I believed psychopharmacologic intervention was necessary and optimal. Based upon the peer reviewed literature, this notion is not supported. Rather, individuals with psychotic disorders tend to do better, as a whole, if they do not use, or minimally use, psychotropic medication. Likewise, forced orders to treat (i.e. commitments) have not been show to increase positive outcomes, reduce rehospitalizations and reduce violence or aggression. This information is extremely important when making treatment decisions, when assessing why psychotic patients are not recovering after a year in treatment, when making civil commitment decisions, and when making financial decisions related to long term treatment planning.

TOby Watson

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Confronting 60 Minutes’ “Imminent Danger”: The Evidence on Schizophrenia and Psychotropic Medications, Violence, and Forced Orders to Treat, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, January 2014, Springer Publishing Company,
DOI: 10.1891/1559-4343.16.1.51.
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