Advance Directives in mental health: a bioethical analysis

Abstract

Studies on advance directives (AD) are frequent in health research and, increasingly, in the field of mental health. As a proactive and ethical approach to decision-making, AD is an ideal tool for providing dignified care and respect to individuals and their surroundings. This article presents a sound ethical
approach that underlies and favors such a practice. A rigorous analysis of the ethical and care benefits is performed, highlighting the barriers to its incorporation and reflecting on the need for more research to overcome these barriers to provide more humanized care to patients with mental disorders.
Additionally, recommendations are proposed to health professionals involved in caring for such patients
to implement this type of care relation.