Under the Mental Health Act, people can be ordered by the court to take medication or therapy if they have been assessed as having a mental disorder.
Tracey Towns, manager at Supporting Families Wairarapa, said families had asked the organisation for help about using the court order.
An order is used when someone is deemed unwell, she said. "Quite often when people become unwell, they don't realise they are unwell. It is often a path that is taken by families."
By law, a mental disorder is an abnormal state of mind that could pose a serious danger to the health or safety of the person or others, or seriously diminishes the capacity of a person to take care of themselves.
Anyone can apply for an order, with a certificate from a doctor who also believes a person may have a mental disorder, to have someone assessed under the Act.
Mr Curtis-Cody said the Wairarapa statistics could be misleading due to the small numbers. He said there were currently 250 open cases and about 30 people admitted under the Act in Wairarapa.
When looking at Wairarapa's population of almost 40,000, a ballpark rate per 100,000 would actually be 75, he said.
"A factor that I am mindful of is that small numbers may give a misleading statistic.
"Wairarapa mental health statistics tend to be very small by national standards."
He said Whanganui and West Coast DHBs were similar to Wairarapa and sometimes used for comparison purposes.
Wairarapa still had the highest rate compared to the two DHBs, which had rates of 131 and 133 per 100,000.
Mr Curtis-Cody said one reason for the high rate was most patients admitted under the Act remained under it when discharged from hospital.
"Compulsory treatment orders are effective in supporting assertive community treatment and do prevent hospitalisation," he said.
Judi Clements, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said it would prefer to see the orders used as a last resort.
"We are concerned about the variation in use and the increased use of compulsory treatment orders. The concern with the number is that it's becoming more than an exception."
Ms Clements said people in crisis needed a collaborative response without the use of CTOs, which evidence had shown was ineffective.
She said there were legitimate concerns about the conflict between the Act, the Human Rights Act and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which NZ signed. "In some way, human rights are almost overtaken. There are disparities in what can happen to people."
For physical or mental health problems, consent and capacity could be a grey area, said Ms Clements.
For physical illness, people could choose not take treatment, she said. "For example, I have type-1 diabetes. If I decided I wasn't going to take my medication anymore, I don't have to."
People could also have religious reasons not to undergo treatment, she said. It's quite a different approach, said Ms Clements.
