Other studies have suggested that the patients’ experiences of coercion during the admission process in mental hospitals did not necessarily correspond to their legal status [5, 8, 23, 25]. In the present study, we also noted confusion among patients legally required to undergo treatment; 1/3 did not perceive that they were legally required to enter treatment. This misperception of legal status may have been influenced by the fact that, in our study, most of the patients admitted involuntarily stayed in the same wards as the patients admitted voluntarily, and the groups were treated almost equally. Additionally, the Norwegian approach to coercion is largely focused on rehabilitation, motivation, and treatment. Potentially, this premise of the law might influence the attitudes of the professionals involved in this type of treatment. One might speculate that this rehabilitative perspective might be more difficult to find among professionals in countries where coerced measures are guided more often by criminal law and traditions .