Coercive Medication: Who, how, how Long? A Retrospective Chart Analysis in 6 Hospital Sites in Baden-Wuerttemberg

Abstract

Evaluation of the practice of coercive treatment in Germany after the Constiutional Court's decision in 2011. The documented emergency treatments (N=86) and judicially approved compulsory treatments (N=62) in 2015 and 2016 at 6 hospital locations in Baden-Württemberg were retrospectively analysed. Patients had an average of 8 previous psychiatric hospitalisations with a cumulative duration of 645 days on average and 87% had a psychotic disorder. 34% received subsequent compulsory treatment within one year. The median duration of compulsory treatment was 15 days. 92% of the patients were taking an antipsychotic at discharge, 45% received further treatment in a day hospital or a psychiatric outpatient clinic. Coercive treatment affects a relatively small, chronically severely ill group of patients and is frequently recurrent among them. For considerable part, no consecutive treatment setting can be established after discharge.