Policymaking Opportunities for Noncoercive Mental Health Treatment

Public opinion research related to mental illness and substance use disorders typically investigates opinions about people with these conditions (eg, stigma or perceptions of dangerousness), public policies related to these conditions (eg, insurance coverage for treatment or government spending), or both.Shields et al 1 surveyed 1442 US adults to discern their views on policies that support noncoercive (provided with a person's informed consent and willing participation) and coercive (provided against someone's wishes) treatment.They also stratified their findings by political party affiliation (Democrat, Republican, or Independent).Across the whole sample, 72.64% endorsed support for community-based mental health services and 65.10% supported peer-led services.For coercive policies, support ranged from 39.90% for making it easier to force people to take psychiatric medications to 53.07% for making it easier to force people with substance use disorder to receive treatment against their will.When stratified