Control and compassion: the uncertain role of Mental Health Review Tribunals in the management of the mentally ill

2002 ◽  
pp. 141-154
2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangeetha Sankarnarayanan ◽  
Akila Jayasekera
Keyword(s):  

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Guarnieri

SummaryInserting adults with psychic problems into families has recently been practiced in various European countries and also in Italy, where some mental health departments support such families. Beyond the well known story of Gheel, the etero and omofamily care of psychiatric patients has a forgotten history. Methods – On the basis of unexplored and exceptionally rich sources from the archives of the asylums in Florence, as well as of the Province di Florence, which funded assistance to the mentally ill – this research focuses on the subsidized “domestic custody” of hundreds of psychiatric patients, who had already been institutionalized. Beginning in 1866, outboarding was supported by the provincial administration in Florence with the collaboration of the asylum medical direction. Results – In the late 19th C. and in the early 20th C. prestigious psychiatrists sought alternatives to the institutionalisation. These alternatives involved varied participants in a community (the patients and their families, the administrators and the medical specialists, the neighborhood and the police). The families played a special role that historians of the psychiatry exclusively dedicated to the insane asylums have not really seen. Conclusions – The role of the families in the interaction with the psychiatric staff is not, even on a historiographical level, simply an additional and marginal chapter of the practices and of the culture of the mental health. These archival evidence contradicts some common places on the past of the Italian psychiatry before 1978, and provokes new reflections of possible relevance to the present.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 913-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Adams ◽  
Joseph Ferrandino

Mentally ill inmates now comprise a substantial portion of the prison population and pose administrative and therapeutic challenges to prison administrators and mental health professionals. Some evidence suggests that both the size of the population and the seriousness of their illnesses are increasing. Given this context, several issues are highlighted and discussed in terms of contemporary efforts to deal with mentally ill inmates. Specifically, discussion centers on the use of actuarial devices for prediction and classification, the conflict between treatment and control and the relation between treatment and management, the distinction between risks and stakes and use of the environment as therapy, use of medication and isolation, and the role of correction officers in mental health treatment. The authors make an argument for more sophisticated approaches in dealing with mentally ill inmates that rely on expanded therapeutic options, broader role definitions for prison staff, and an evidence-based approach for individualizing treatment.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-160
Author(s):  
Katherine E. McCallum ◽  
W. Neil Gowensmith

An unprecedented number of individuals with mental illness are represented in the criminal justice system. The unending growth of mentally ill populations in the justice system has led to jails and court dockets being increasingly overwhelmed with cases involving mental illness, state hospitals devoting far more beds and resources to forensic cases, and people without a criminal commitment left waiting for mental health services as forensic cases are prioritized. Although a forensic mental health evaluation is only one component of this larger system, common problems with forensic mental health evaluations can exacerbate the criminalization of persons with mental illness in many ways. This article reviews the current literature regarding issues of quality, reliability, and validity of forensic mental health evaluations, discusses the broader impact of these issues, and offers potential solutions for the field.


2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 366-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srikanth Nimmagadda ◽  
Christopher N. Jones

Aims and MethodA postal survey of consultant psychiatrists was carried out to assess their level of knowledge about the role of the person representing the responsible authority at a mental health review tribunal (MHRT).ResultsConsultants generally had a low level of knowledge and understanding of their responsibilities as representatives, which increased since appointment and with experience of MHRTs. They thought it appropriate that they continue representing the detaining authority in most cases, but recognised training needs.Clinical ImplicationsPostgraduate training and continuing professional development should address the competencies required for the representative role. Trusts should review their practice in respect of legal representation at MHRTs.


1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 407-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Grahame Woolf
Keyword(s):  

This paper draws upon over 30 years experience of Tribunals as RMO, medical member and independent psychiatrist.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suantak D Vaiphei

BACKGROUND With the emergence of health psychology and clinical psychology, the interplay between psychologists and health in medical sciences has become a growing topic of interest, which is visible in enhancing the quality of health status and wellbeing in clinical practices. Health requires interdisciplinary team assessments in addressing the holistic needs of the individual. Thus, understanding the cognitive process will help in understanding how to prevent tumor prognosis and body dysfunctions through any possible means. OBJECTIVE The ultimate aim of the present study is to analyses the role of psychologists in identifying patients' emotional and mental suffering for quality of life. It is also to identify the contributions of the psychologists in restoring, maintaining, and promoting health and wellbeing in the individual life experiences. METHODS The current study is an analytical review of the collective documents and literature. RESULTS Psychologists with adequate working knowledge in treatment procedure and functioning were visible more effective in attending to the patient's needs with regards to pain and symptom management. The contributions of the psychologist's inpatient ill experience serve as a critical care medicine that restores patient psycho-emotional and mental wellbeing helps in revitalizing the individual physical strength and delivers the quality of life. It is a restoration therapy against mental disharmony and emotional suffering in clinical practices. The psychologists not only address the disorder issues but also work in order to prevent it from happening in individual experience by identifying several causes of stressors with timely and appropriate treatment interventions. CONCLUSIONS Among all the assessments that existed in the mental health diagnosis, the interventions of the clinical psychologists play the most crucial role in encountering the existential disorders and the stressors challenges for quality assessment and positive health outcomes. The psychological skills, knowledge, and principles are the core elements for the mental diagnostic process, in preventing health risk behavior, disability, and its negative outcomes. The intervention of the psychotherapeutic approach is visible effective in alleviating patient mental instability, disabilities, discomfort, and enhances mental wellbeing. It is also helpful in maintaining health, promoting health conditions, improves the health care system, and formulated quality treatment plans and policies. In a clinical setting, the goal of psychotherapy is to act in the best interest of the patient by preserving patient autonomy, integrity, dignity, and to promote social roles and responsibilities. In mentally ill diagnosis patients experience several stressors that need special attention through multidisciplinary team interventions to encounter with the biological, social, emotional, and spiritual domains of needs, which were mostly the outcomes of patient acute disorder symptoms. Thus, the integration of biomedicine with the psychological approach to mentally ill diagnosis is the only effective way to enhance patient quality of life and wellbeing. The psychologists, on the other hand, received numerous training to encounter with the intellectual challenges, psychotic and neurotic understanding of the human brain and emotions through the neuroscientific approach to the causes of human mental disorders. The role of psychologists is not only to enhance the treatment process; they can conduct clinician group discussions on effective coping skills, strategies, educate patients and family on mental health diagnosis procedures, and the importance of the psychological aspect of mental health care. It is also important to have a psychodynamic evaluation of the treatment procedure and its progression to formulate a better treatment plan.


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