Policy forum: Peer-reviewed article when structural inequity is ubiquitous, can force ever be compassionate?

Abstract

This article contextualizes and challenges race, class, and gender inequity in psychiatric use of force. In particular, this article examines (1) how uses of force-seclusion, restraint, compulsion-have been codified in policy and law, (2) inequity in force utilization, and (3) connections between systemic oppression and individuals' responses-including fear and retraumatization-to feeling threatened by force in clinical settings. This article proposes multilevel strategies to abolish inequity in uses of force in clinical settings and questions whether it is ever possible to use force compassionately where inequity persists.