Elements of an Ideal Statutory Scheme for Mental Health Civil Commitment

Elements of an Ideal Statutory Scheme for Mental Health Civil Commitment

Stettin B; Lamb R; Frese F

Psychiatric Annals

2014

2014-02

Watching a loved one fall into the grip of severe mental illness can be painful and terrifying in equal measure. And yet sometimes, to the chagrin and astonishment of those who want to help the ill person find a way back to the life he once had, pleas to seek treatment are met with emphatic insistence that everything is fine. At some point, when things become unbearable for the concerned observer, a call will be made to police or a local mental health facility. It is at this moment that the situation becomes not merely a health emergency, but also a legal matter. This leads to a critical question: what exactly are the societal imperatives activated by a psychiatric crisis? This is a major question that states have had to grapple with in crafting their laws on involuntary treatment. Laws must also address the circumstances that typically follow a diagnosis of severe mental illness, such as how long and under what criteria the person should be held by a court of law for continued inpatient treatment against his wishes, whether the state should require him to adhere to a prescribed treatment plan, and how far into relapse a person must fall before he is involuntarily re-hospitalized.

assisted outpatient treatment; new-york; Psychiatry

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