NEWS

Featured State action on PADs: Virginia's Health Care Decisions Act

Featured videos on PADs by Delaney Ruston, MD, documentary filmmaker

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PAD Stories

"This time, with a PAD, I did not receive any treatments that I did not want. They were very respectful. I really felt like the hospital took better care of me because I had my PAD. In fact, I think it's the best care that I've ever received."

Welcome to the National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives


PATIENTS AND CONSUMERS	HEALTH AND LEGAL PROFESSIONALS	FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS
Find out what you need to know about preparing your own psychiatric advance directive in your state using this simple step-by-step guide. More details….	Access practical, clinically focused information as well as comprehensive legal resources to help you make decisions when you encounter psychiatric advance directives in practice. Find out more…	Help a family member with mental illness prepare for a psychiatric crisis using advance instructions or health care power of attorney documents. More details…

State-by-State Information

Psychiatric advance directives are relatively new legal instruments that may be used to document a competent person’s specific instructions or preferences regarding future mental health treatment. Psychiatric advance directives can be used to plan for the possibility that someone may lose capacity to give or withhold informed consent to treatment during acute episodes of psychiatric illness.