Problems Associated With Use of Physical and Mechanical Restraints in Contemporary Human Services

The use of restraint techniques in contemporary human services is endemic and in some fields is growing. Although I will define restraint more explicitly below, basically, human service restraint is the use of force by service workers to limit the movement of human service clients. Ironically, the analysis of and approaches to this problem for the most part remain relatively elementary and sometimes even superficial and, therefore, are of limited effectiveness. Considering the physical and psychological dangers associated with restraint as well as the seriousness of the decision to use force on another human being, there has been little in-depth critical examination of the issue. Although some individuals and organizations have raised concerns and taken strong positions against restraint, even these have mostly focused attention on abuses and excesses rather than on the inherent nature of restraint use. An example of such simplistic analysis is illustrated by the reality that restraint use is typically addressed in services as a stand-alone issue (e.g., it is all about the person restrained), when, in actuality, many things directly or indirectly impact on it. This reality is often not considered when use of restraint is discussed; or, if it is addressed,