Coercive procedures and facilities in Swiss psychiatry

Coercion is a long standing problem which has been controversially debated since the beginning of modern psychiatry and many attempts have been made to solve this problem. Some early re-ports regarding the humanisation of the treatment of psychiatric patients can be traced back to the 18th century when Philippe Pinel (1745–1876) not only freed the patients from their chains but also restricted the use of strait-jackets [1]. In France these reforms were continued by Jean-Etienne-Dominique Esquirol (1772–1840), Pinel’s most prominent follower and on the other side of th