Emotional CPR as an Alternative to Coercive Mental Health Treatment

MedPage Today September 17, 2023
Daniel Fisher, MD, PhD

— The power of others with lived experience

Several months ago, I interviewed the late Sally Zinman, a heroine of our mental health movement of people with lived experience. I asked what changes she would like to see in the mental health system in the future. Without hesitation she said that the system should value and encourage self-determination and totally voluntary, noncoercive services.

I will discuss here the dangers of involuntary commitment, and demonstrate the ways that I believe Emotional CPR (eCPR), which I will define below, contributes to Zinman’s vision.

The Conceptualization of eCPR

I had gone to the limits of linear logic while working as a neurochemist in the National Institute of Mental Health. I agreed with my...

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