Can Psychiatric detention and treatment: a suggested criterion

by Alec Buchanan*

Abstract

Calls for a new Mental Health Act for England and Wales, and the government’s response to those calls, raise the question of why we have mental health legislation. One answer is that we wish to provide criteria for psychiatric detention and compulsory treatment. It is argued that we are willing to coerce some people with mental disorders in this way when we conclude that their ability to make a proper choice is impaired. Mental health legislation could and should be designed to take this into account.

Footnotes:
*The author has worked as a psychiatrist since 1987. He currently works as a senior lecturer in the Department of Forensic Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry. His publications include books on compliance with treatment and the jurisprudence of abnormal mental states.

Price: £3.00

 

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