ArticlePatient preference and adherence2021
Why Service Users Choose Medication-Free Psychiatric Treatment: A Mixed-Method Study of User Accounts.
Article in Patient preference and adherence, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Are People Worse Off in a Mental Health Treatment Paradigm Where Medication Is Deemphasised? A Naturalistic Noninferiority Trial of an Initiative to Improve Patient Choice.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2026Article
- "Something is clashing" - intentions to offer Medication-Free services within a traditional mental health ward.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- "I want to live life, not just be in it!": a qualitative study on existential aspects of choosing to reduce or stop psychotropic medication.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- "Choosing your Own Path": Patterns of Use of Psychiatric Medication among Individuals with Serious Mental Illness.Community mental health journal · 2025Article
- Why do patients want medication free treatment for psychosis? An explorative study on reasons for applying to medication free programs.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Medication-Free Treatment in Mental Health Care How Does It Differ from Traditional Treatment?Patient preference and adherence · 2024Article
- Medication-free mental health treatment: a focus group study of milieu therapeutic settings.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Attitudes toward and patterns of medication use among people with serious mental illness: There's more than meets the eye.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- How can we best help this patient? Exploring mental health therapists' reflections on medication-free care for patients with psychosis in Norway.International journal of mental health systems · 2022Article
- Managing and Mitigating Suffering in the Return-to-Work Process.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Development of a social skills training programme to target social isolation using virtual reality technology in primary mental health care.Journal of rehabilitation and assistive technologies engineeringArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMedication has been a central part of treatment for severe mental disorders in Western medicine since the 1950s. In 2015, Norwegian Health Authorities decided that Norwegian health regions must have treatment units devoted to medication-free mental health treatment to enhance service users' freedom of choice. The need for these units has been controversial. The aim of this study was to examine why service users choose medication-free services. This article examines what purpose these units serve in terms of the users' reasons for choosing this service, what is important for them to receive during the treatment, and what factors lay behind their concerns in terms of medication-related views and experiences.
methodsQuestionnaires were answered by 46 participants and 5 participants were interviewed in a mixed-method design integrated with a concurrent triangulation strategy applying thematic analysis and descriptive statistics.
resultsNegative effects of medications and unavailable alternatives to medication in ordinary health care were important reasons for wanting medication-free treatment. Medication use may conflict with personal values, attitudes, and beliefs.
conclusionThis study broadens the understanding of why the demand for separate medication-free units has arisen. The findings may contribute to making medication-free treatment an option in mental health care in general. To this end, clinicians are advised to communicate all treatment alternatives to service users and to be mindful of the effect of power imbalances in their interactions with them.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.