Medication is the easiest treatment to administer compulsorily. CTOs will be unable to deal with people who require services such as counselling which require voluntary participation. In some cases medication can be unhelpful. Where medication is helpful, it needs to be combined with access to a variety of services, support, adequate housing and employment. If CTOs focus only on medication they will be ineffective.
Treatment needs to be defined to incorporate a wider range of therapeutic interventions.
If a person refuses to accept the treatment detailed in their CTO, they will have to be taken to a clinical setting and detained there to allow forcible treatment. In the aftermath of the Lawrence Inquiry, the Government made a commitment to tackle institutional racism in all public services. The current Mental Health Act has been used to oppress black people who are more likely to be in locked wards, more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, receiving higher doses of medication and are less likely to receive talking treatments than their white counterparts. I did not intend to threaten anybody, but now I feel that a lot of white people are threatened by my presence. Implementing and enforcing CTOs will change the nature of the relationship between service users and health professionals from a therapeutic relationship to one based on coercion.