Seclusion and Restraint: A High-Risk Procedure With Alternative Methods

Today, individual states and the federal government have enacted standards, laws, regulations, and policies governing the use of seclusion and restraint as a way to eliminate or decrease its use. The American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Nurses Association, and the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems noted, “what is clear in all of these standards is a national intent to see that restraint and seclusion are used appropriately, as infrequently as possible, and only when less restrictive methods are considered and are not feasible.”¹