PsychRights: Outpatient Commitment

Law Project for Psychiatric Rights: PsychRights

OutPatient Commitment

Involuntary Outpatient Commitment: A Legal and Policy Analysis, by the Center for Public Representation, Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, Disability Law Center of Massachusetts, and the Committe for Public Counsel Services, last revised, June 23, 2025.
Compulsory community and involuntary outpatient treatment for people with severe mental disorders (Review), by S.R. Kisely, L.A. Campgell & R. O'Reilly, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2017, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004408.
Is the Evidence Strong Enough to Warrant Long-Term Antipsychotic Use in Compulsory Outpatient Treatment? by Shawn S. Barnes, M.D., and Nicolas Badre, M.D., Psychiatric Services 67:7 (2016).
Effect of increased compulsion on readmission to hospital or disengagement from community services for patients with psychosis: follow-up of a cohort from the OCTET trial, by Tom Burns, Ksenija Yeeles, Constantinos Koshiaris, Maria Vazquez-Montes, Andrew Molodynski, Stephen Puntis, Francis Vergunst, Alexandra Forrest, Amy Mitchell, Kiki Burns, Jorun Rugkåsa, The Lancet, October, 2015, Vol 2: 881-890. "The findings from our 36-month follow-up support our original findings that CTOs do not provide patient benefits, and the continued high level of their use should be reviewed."
Harvey Rosenthal Testimony to Alameda County Board of Supervisors, February 21, 2014.
Community treatment orders for patients with psychosis (OCTET): a randomised controlled trial, by Tom Burns, Jorun Rugkåsa, Andrew Molodynski, John Dawson, Ksenija Yeeles, Maria Vazquez-Montes, Merryn Voysey, Julia Sinclair, and Stefan Priebe, The Lancet, Vol 381 (2013)
Evidence Regarding OutPatient Commitment, by Toby T. Watson, Psy.D.
The relationship between voluntary and involuntary outpatient commitment programs An Assessment of the Scientific Research on OPC Implementation, by Jasenn Zaejian, Ph.D. November 18, 2011.
- Current Research on Outpatient Commitment Laws (“Laura’s Law” in California)‎, by Jasenn Zaejian on MadInAmerica.Com, February 18, 2014.
International experiences of using community treatment orders, by the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley (UK), March 2007. This study, which says it is the most comprehensive and thorough review of outpatient commitment, concluded "it is not possible to state whether community treatments orders (CTOs) are beneficial or harmful to patients."
Does compulsory or supervised community treatment reduce 'revolving door' care? Legislation is inconsistent with recent evidence, by Stephen Kisely and Leslie Anne Campbell, British Journal of Psychiatry, 197, 373-374 (2007)
Kisely S, Campbell LA, Preston N. Compulsory community and involuntary outpatient treatment for people with severe mental disorders. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004408.pub2. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004408.pub2. This study found little beneficial effect: "In terms of numbers needed to treat, it would take 85 OPC orders to prevent one readmission, 27 to prevent one episode of homelessness and 238 to prevent one arrest.
"The Effectiveness of Involuntary Outpatient Treatment Empirical Evidence and the Experience of Eight States, by M. Susan Ridgely Randy Borum John Petrila, The Rand Corporation, 2001.
Assessing the New York City Involuntary Outpatient Commitment Pilot Program, by Henry J. Steadman, Ph.D., Kostas Gounis, Ph.D., Deborah Dennis, M.A., Kim Hopper, Ph.D., Brenda Roche, M.P.H., Marvin Swartz, M.D. and Pamela Clark Robbins, B.A., Psychiatric Services, Vol 52. No. 3 (2001)
Opening Pandora’s Box: The Practical and Legal Dangers of Involuntary Outpatient Commitment, by Michael Allen, J.D. Vicki Fox Smith, Psychiatric Services, Vol 52, No. 3 (2001).