Involuntary treatment of psychiatric disorders has always been controversial; this is especially true for eating disorders. Patients with anorexia nervosa of life threatening severity frequently refuse psychiatric hospitalization. Ambivalence toward treatment is characteristic of eating disorders and patients are often admitted to inpatient programs under pressure from family and doctors. In this article, we report research on the positive or negative impact of involuntary admission in the treatment of eating disorders, its application and effectiveness as well as the adverse consequences of coercive treatment in eating disorders.

A literature review was done. From a total of 134 publications which were retrieved from the literature search, 50 studies were directly relevant to the scope of this review and fulfilled all inclusion criteria.

There are trends and arguments for both sides; for and against involuntary treatment in anorexia …