INCLUSION, MOTIVATION, AND GOOD FAITH - THE MORALITY OF COERCION IN MENTAL-HOSPITAL ADMISSION

We administered a semi-structured interview to 157 patients shortly af ter their admission to a psychiatric hospital. In the first, and open- ended, part of the interview, patients were asked to talk about what h ad been going on in their lives that led to their coming into the hosp ital. Then, in a more structured format, they were asked more specific details about who was involved, the patients' relationships with thos e involved, whether any attempts were made to influence the patient to come into the hospital, and whether such attempts were perceived as f air by the patient. This article presents a qualitative review of the transcripts of a subset of these interviews. It attends specifically t o patients' perceptions of the morality of attempts by others-primaril y family members, friends and mental health professionals-to influence them to be admitted to the hospital, and of the morality of the proce ss by which these influence attempts resulted in admission.