Shared Decision-Making for Mental Health

Health professionals are increasingly being encouraged to adopt a collaborative approach to making health care decisions. Clinical practice guidelines advocate for clinicians to involve clients in decision-making processes and allow for client preferences (along with evidence) to guide decisions where possible. Shared Decision-Making (SDM) is the most prominent example of this.

While this approach has strong face validity, it is a relatively new approach in the area of mental health, and evidence for the effectiveness of collaborative approaches is only just emerging. Decision-making processes for clients diagnosed with mental disorders might also be different to those in general or non-psychiatric health areas. This evidence summary reviews available evidence for the effectiveness of Shared Decision-Making for mental disorders and related research about the effectiveness of components of Shared Decision-Making such as allowing clients to choose treatment options.