General Pressures to Adhere to Psychiatric Treatment in the Community

Abstract

We sought to determine the prevalence and the sources of pressures to keep appointments and/or to take medications among people receiving services in the community for serious mental illness. Self-report data from 1,011 adult outpatients from mental health centers located in five states were gathered. Current treatment pressures were found to be quite common: between 41 and 55% of patients experienced feeling at least one pressure to adhere to treatment in the past six months In addition, the average number of pressure sources was slightly more than three, with one-fifth of the sample experiencing pressure from six or more sources. Health service providers were the most frequent source of pressures, followed by family members and friends. These data add to a growing literature indicating that pressure and leverage are commonly used to induce treatment adherence in patients with mental illness.