INVESTIGATING COMPULSORY CARE - EXPERIENCES FROM A PLANNED STUDY AT THE NORDIC LEVEL

This article describes the planning of a Nordic investigation of compu lsory care, conducted by The Nordic Study Group Of Ethics, Law and Psy chiatry. The purpose is to study the relationship between mental legis lation, use of compulsion and perception of compulsion as experienced by the patients. Before comparing the conditions in the different coun tries, evaluation of the reliability and validity of public statistics must be done. It is known that the formal registration of involuntary commitment in the different Nordic countries does not cover the same incidents. There are lots of methodological problems to deal with.