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.
“Get It in Writing – Psychiatric Advance Directives”
Lynn K. Jones, DSW, Social Work Today, Vol. 7 No. 2 P. 20, March/April 2007