Historically mental health care and its treatment have had many approaches. It is a rather new concept of the patient being the guiding authority for their care received or denied. Mental health care advanced directives which are a legal document can improve upon patient autonomy and assist providers in providing the treatment that patients want to receive when they cannot verbalize those desires during times of decompensation of a mental illness. Historically mental health care has been provided to some degree by a paternalistic approach. A paternalistic approach to mental health care can have negative consequences for patient care, decrease adherence to treatment and cause a relapse. While autonomy for the mental health care patient provides
