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Cited by 8Healthcare Decision-Making and RestraintsPsychiatric care and mental health servicesEthics in medical practice

When Psychiatric Services Become a Waiting Room: Situational Analysis of Involuntary Commitment and Treatment as Experienced by Patients and Nurses

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Pariseau-Legault, Pierre, Pelosse, David, Bernheim, Emmanuelle, Goulet, Marie-Hélène, Ouellet, Guillaume, Labrecque-Lebeau, Lisandre, Jacob, Jean-Daniel, Holmes, Dave·2025·Clinical Nursing Research
DOI 10.1177/10547738251321067PMC PMC12053111
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Abstract

A growing body of literature highlights the involvement of nurses in the application of involuntary commitment and treatments in psychiatry. The violence underlying these coercive practices is often discussed, as they infringe on human rights and have negative effects on both patients and healthcare staff. The current state of knowledge on this subject, however, fails to inform us of what characterizes and influences these practices in psychiatric nursing. A situational analysis was conducted to gain a better understanding of this issue. This qualitative research aims to explore the characteristics of nursing care during involuntary commitment and treatments. In all, 10 nurses ( n = 10) and 11 patients ( n = 11) participated in semi-structured interviews and completed a sociodemographic questionnaire. Data analysis followed a grounded theory approach, involving a process of coding, conceptualizing, categorizing, constant comparison, and relational mapping, accompanied by analytical memos. Four conceptual categories emerged from data analysis: (1) Psychiatry as a waiting room, (2) nurses as subordinates, (3) nothing else but medication, and (4) resisting undignifying care. The results suggest that clinical issues surrounding involuntary commitment and treatments can be explained by how care is conceived. The psychiatric nursing practice seems to be limited to the application of coercive power, such as forced administration of medication. The distress potentially induced by involuntary commitment and treatments in patients comes to be ignored in favor of compliance with the legal procedures. The results describe a situation where patients felt abandoned to those procedures as if refusing to be hospitalized or treated were incompatible with any other form of care. Several participants also report having suffered negative consequences following one or more coerced psychiatric episodes. For them, refusal of care therefore seems to be associated with a resistance against the current violence of biomedical psychiatry, rather than a refusal to obtain help and support.

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  • Although each professional's approach does influence how care is perceived and the extent to which it is experienced as coercive, the literature also highlights that healthcare workers are trapped within systems that prevent them from intervening in ways that align with their professional values.

    “Although each professional’s approach does influence how care is perceived and the extent to which it is experienced as coercive [47,83,153], the literature also highlights that healthcare workers are trapped within systems that prevent them from intervening in ways that align with their professional values, which are centered on supporting, not controlling, the person [181,182,183].”

    From Factors Associated with Perceived Coercion in Adults Receiving Psychiatric Care: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as [183]

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Kirk S. A. (2017). Mad science: Psychiatric coercion, diagnosis, and drugs. Routledge.

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Authors
Pariseau-Legault, P., Pelosse, D., Bernheim, E., Goulet, M.-H., Ouellet, G., Labrecque-Lebeau, L., Jacob, J.-D., & Holmes, D.
Affiliations
  • Université du Québec en Outaouais, Saint-Jerome, QC, Canada
  • Université du Québec en Outaouais (CA)
  • University of Ottawa (CA)
  • Université de Montréal (CA)
  • Centre de recherche de Montréal sur les inégalités sociales, les discriminations et les pratiques alternatives de citoyenneté (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Clinical Nursing Research
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2025-03-12
Volume
34
Issue
3-4
Pages
168-178
ISSN
  • 1054-7738 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-3799
DOI
10.1177/10547738251321067
PMC
PMC12053111
OpenAlex
W4408366115
Cited by
6
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 2
FWCI
7.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Clinical Nursing Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychiatric care and mental health services
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Ethics in medical practice
Keywords
involuntary admission, psychiatric nursing, nurses' experiences, patient experience, forced medication, coercion in mental health care, patient abandonment, treatment refusal, biological psychiatry, nursing hierarchy
MeSH terms
Involuntary Commitment, Adult, Mental Disorders, Coercion, Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health Services, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Nursing, Surveys and Questionnaires, Qualitative Research

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