Compulsory community treatment? I. Ontario stakeholders' responses to 'helping those who won't help themselves'

Abstract

This paper explores the highly controversial issue of compulsory treatment of allegedly mentally disordered persons within the community. In light of American literature on the subject, we examine and contrast the positions and arguments of a variety of Ontario stakeholders. This is done through content analysis of 224 submissions to the Ontario Ministry of Health in response to its 'Discussion Paper Towards Community Mental Health Services Legislation of January 1990' which addresses the specific question: 'Should the legislation include provisions for out-patient commitment/compulsory community treatment?' Our purpose in this paper is not to determine the desirability or undesirability of compulsory community treatment (CCT) as such, but to examine Ontario positions as a first and necessary step in the process of acquiring perspective on the issue.