What role should provider coercion play in promoting treatment?
Service providers have the ethical responsibility to (1) promote consumer well-being and (2) foster self-determination. On occasion, these values lie in opposition to each other. Under low risk situations, providers may counsel and support consumers to help them reason through decisions regarding whether to continue, discontinue, or change treatments. More rarely, providers may have to exercise their professional responsibility and override the person’s decisions should he or she be a danger to self or others. In these situations, service providers act to prevent the person from hurting him or herself by pursuing more restrictive treatments. This may require civil or criminal commitment to inpatient or outpatient treatment depending on the state or jurisdiction.
