Community treatment orders (CTOs) have been in place in various jurisdictions for over
three decades, and yet are still a controversial aspect of mental health provision. One of the
ethical concerns CTOs may engender is how difficult it can be to secure discharge from
them, which in some jurisdictions can result in service users being subject to compulsion in
the community indefinitely. Given the questions that can therefore be raised about the
discharge process, it is important to understand the role of the mental health tribunal as a …