Legal coercion of substance abusers; investigation, treatment and outcome

Commitment to involuntary care is a multistage process comprising many different aspects; legal, psychological, medical, social and ethical among others (Schottenfeld,1989; Klag, O’Callaghan & Creed, 2005; Kleinig, 2004). It can also be analyzed from the perspective of a continuum starting from the report to the legal and social authorities, the investigations on whether to commit or not, the actual commitment and aftercare following involuntary treatment. Enhancing knowledge on the total process of commitment requires intense research studies with an application of a wide array of research methods. To investigate the experience of the person subjected to investigation and commitment is especially challenging because of the violation of the individual’s right to make decisions concerning his own life (Kjellin & Nilstun, 1993; Eriksson & Westrin, 1995; Lidz, Hoge, Gardner et al., 1995). The legislation can also be an impediment to apply the state-of-the-art design of randomised controlled trials due to obligating legislation and require the use of different types of designs, for example quasi-experimental (Geller, McDermeit, Grudzinskas Jr et al., 1997; Maddux , 1988)