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When People Lose Autonomy: The Case For Coercion And The Moral Responsibility Crisis Clinicians Have To Society, Nathan Strickland, Chad Luke, Fred Redekop

International Journal on Responsibility

The present article explores the responsibility of mental health crisis management clinicians around the world in the context of ethical practice. Concepts of suicide, autonomy, coercion, and civil commitment are defined through the lens of crisis intervention. Historical background and development of community-based crisis management in the United States, mental health crisis assessments, interdisciplinary crisis ethics, and a continuum of coercion in crisis intervention are discussed. The authors then lay out three clinical crisis case vignettes to demonstrate three levels of risk to safety and the appropriate implementation of the three levels of the continuum of coercion. Finally, a discussion …