Sign up for alerts

Winter 2011/12 | Vol 15 No 2

Research update

Mark de la Hey

Community treatment orders don’t affect attitude toward recovery

The use of community treatment orders does not appear to have a negative effect on clients’ perceptions of their prospects for recovery, according to research from the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Researchers interviewed 86 people with either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder about their mental and physical health and their views of recovery. Eighteen of the participants were under a community treatment order (CTO) at the time of the interview. Eighty-two per cent of participants believed that recovery from their mental illness was possible; in fact, 51 per cent considered themselves to be in recovery already. Participants who were under a CTO were no more or less likely to see recovery as a possibility or to see themselves as already being recovered than those who were not under a CTO, despite the fact that criteria for placement under a CTO include symptom severity and poor function. The authors speculate that the reason those under a CTO were not less optimistic about their prospects may be because the CTO is viewed as part of the treatment that helps a person manage their illness and achieve recovery, thus enhancing rather than diminishing their individual autonomy.

Australasian Psychiatry, September 17, 2011, published online, doi: 10.3109/10398562.2011.603330. Tess Patterson et al., Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.