“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.” Read More PAD Stories...

About PADs

  • A psychiatric advance directive (PAD) is a legal document that documents a person’s preferences for future mental health treatment, and allows appointment of a health proxy to interpret those preferences during a crisis.
  • PADs may be drafted when a person is well enough to consider preferences for future mental health treatment.
  • PADs are used when a person becomes unable to make decisions during a mental health crisis.

Current Research

PubMed Searches on PADs

Use these links to access recent medical research literature on psychiatric advance directives.  Each link will open a new window with articles retrieved from PubMed, the National Library of Medicine’s premier bibliographic database.  Many of the articles will have abstracts available. Follow the PubMed site links for more information, including how to obtain the full article.

PAD research from 1966 to present

Advance Directives research for the past 2 years

Ethics and Advance Directives


Selected Bibliography

NRC-PAD Bibliography PDF
A collection of articles from the research literature on Psychiatric Advance Directives and surrounding topics.