Dtsch Arztebl Int
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Coercive measures such as seclusion and restraint encroach on the patient's human rights and can have serious adverse effects ranging from emotional trauma to physical injury and even death. At the same time, they may be the only way to avert acute danger for the patient and/or the hospital staff. In this article, we provide an overview of the efficacy of the measures that have been studied to date for the avoidance of coercion in psychiatry. ⋯ Complex intervention programs to avoid coercive measures, incorporating elements of more than one of the above categories, seem to be particularly effective. In future, cluster-randomized trials to investigate the individual categories of intervention would be desirable.