gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: I am addressing the question how decision-making of people with (mental) health issues can be successful. I argue that assisted decision-making in mental health is often the best way to secure that the interests of the patient are best valued.

Method: For this purpose I conducted semi-structured interviews with mental health consumers, their relatives and professionals in 2013/2014.

Results: It turned out that there are several things that professionals, relatives and peer supporters can do in order to assist people with mental health problems in decision-making: They can give hope, they may contribute to individual and collective empowerment [4], they can guide patients on their way to recovery [1], e.g. by sharing their knowledge from experience with the patients.

Discussion: The issue of assisted decision-making in mental health has high clinical and also juridical relevance, since assisting (mental) health patients in decision-making may not mean taking over control and deciding for the patient [2]. The difficult topic of coercion and violence in mental health has been discussed recently [3] as well as issues of trust and collective autonomy [5].