Workshop proposal 1: ‘Global Perspectives on Coercion in Mental Health Care: Policy, Practice and Emerging Evidence’

Title: Global Perspectives on Coercion in Mental Health Care: Policy, Practice and Emerging Evidence

Chairs:

Andrew Molodynski (Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, University of Oxford, UK)
Domenico Giacco (University of Warwick, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, UK)

Presenters:

Shiro Suda (Jichi Medical University, Japan)
Jorun Rugkåsa (Akershus University Hospital, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway)
Emanuele Valenti (University of Warwick, UK)
Andrew Molodynski and Domenico Giacco (as above)

Abstract:
Coercion remains one of the most pressing and contested issues in mental health care worldwide. Despite efforts to reduce restrictive practices, people with mental illness continue to experience coercion in formal settings such as hospitals and, arguably, in informal interactions within community care. This symposium brings together leading international experts to examine the multiple dimensions of coercion, offering fresh insights and pathways for reform.
Molodynski and Giacco, co-chairs of the WASP Group on Coercion in Psychiatry will introduce the WASP Statement on Coercion, a position that sets out ethical imperatives and policy recommendations to minimise coercive practices globally.
This will be followed by Valenti, who will explore the under-recognised domain of informal coercion, examining its intersections with decision-making capacity, supported autonomy, undue influence and the ethics of persuasion in community care.
Shiro Suda will provide a country-specific perspective, tracing the historical and contemporary use of coercion in Japanese psychiatry, where long hospital stays and legislative frameworks continue to shape the landscape of compulsion.
Finally, Rugkåsa will present findings from the FOSTREN Law and Policy Project, and her talk will focus on autonomy enhancing features for persons subjected to coercion in mental health legislation across 27 European countries.
Together, these contributions offer a multi-level perspective—from international declarations and ethical analysis to national and area-level policy contexts. The symposium will highlight the persistent challenges in reducing coercion, but also identify opportunities for innovation, rights-based approaches, and collaborative international action. People interested in this area are warmly invited to attend, share experiences from the countries they work in and apply for joining the WASP Group on Coercion in Psychiatry.

Domenico Giacco