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Being committed under the Mental Health Act?

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  • 11-06-2020 10:56am
    #1
    mr_fegelien
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭


    Why is it so difficult to do in this country? I've talked to friends here, in the UK, and in the US. It seems that in Ireland and the UK, getting someone "sectioned" is extremely difficult. My American friends and people I've read online have had police come at their door and take them to the ER for expressing suicidal ideation to their therapists/psychiatrists.

    Meanwhile I know people who have been diagnosed with mental illnesses, been violent to themselves and family members and still the Gardai have taken them into custody and released them saying they don't qualify to be sectioned. The only guy I know who was committed to St John of Gods had developed stimulant induced psychosis after taking weed, amphetamines, and magic mushrooms. That's probably a rare case. Most don't get in forcefully?

    Why is that?


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    #2
    Anita Blow
    Registered Users Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭Anita Blow


    Because to detain someone involuntarily is to deprive them of their basic human rights.
    In medicine we can admit/treat someone who cannot consent if this is in their best interests (Eg- someone who has a head injury and is unconscious).

    In psychiatry however there is no easily identifiable organic cause to justify detaining someone of their rights (Mental illness is often an 'invisible' illness). As such, the law sets the bar very high for involuntary detention and rightly so. The criteria for detention are set out in the Mental Health Act and have been refined by case law through the years.

    To be detained a person has to either:
    A) By virtue of their mental illness, represent a threat to themselves or others
    B) By virtue of their mental illness, have their judgement so impaired that they cannot possibly make an informed decision or would deteriorate significantly if they did not receive treatment only available in an inpatient setting.

    Having a mental illness alone does not meet either of these criteria. A person can be depressed and have a passive death wish but not be actively considering suicide. Similarly, being depressed alone does not impair your judgement if you can demonstrate that you can understand the information the doctor is giving you, weigh up the risks VS benefits and decline admission.

    Involuntary admissions constitute a very small amount of psychiatric admissions. Most cases voluntarily agree to enter hospital.


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