ABSTRACT
Although civil commitment is most oen thought of as an inpatient intervention, outpatient commitment (OPC), also known as assisted outpatient treatment (AOT), is another form of civil commitment that mandates adherence to mental health treatment in the community. e common goal of this intervention is to prevent relapse, hospital and criminal justice recidivism, homelessness, and other poor outcomes related to lack of treatment. Court-ordered outpatient psychiatric care is among the most contested and misunderstood issues in mental health law (Brooks 2007, 219; Dale 2010, 271). Yet, given an increasing awareness of the limitations of current mental health-care delivery, there has been a growing interest in exploring its use as a tool to improve treatment adherence in the least restrictive setting possible.
