We remain ever vigilant
Being quarantined at home during the Coronavirus lockdown has presented its own unique set of challenges for many people regarding survival and how to make it through to the other side of the current pandemic.
With this in mind, spare a thought for those in mental health facilities who are detained for months or even years.
On that note, realise that a temporary modification of the Mental Health Act (MHA) was included in the Coronavirus Act 2020 which was passed in March, making it much easier to lock up a mentally ill person.
There were concerns that approved psychiatrists with the power to detain could fall victim to the virus, reducing their availability and thus creating a situation where a person couldn’t be legally detained and forcibly “treated”.
The new act mandates that only one psychiatric opinion is required to make an application to detain a person; it's normally two opinions.
It makes it seem as though approved psychiatrists have some special qualities or training to judge whether a person needs to be detained.
While approved psychiatrists claim expertise, it doesn’t take an “expert” to lock someone up.
All it takes is a spurious report containing one or more unscientific opinions and the swoop of a pen to obtain legal papers to enforce detention.
It cannot be denied that some people experiencing mental difficulties need a helping hand.
However, it’s the practice of enforced psychiatric “treatment” while detained that’s of major concern when considering the human rights of an individual at this time.
For a vulnerable person, the reduction of civil liberties is frightening, but physical or mental damage as a consequence of psychiatric “treatment” is rubbing salt into an already open wound.
Forcible administration of mind-altering psychiatric drugs carries its own liabilities due to the debilitating effects.
Psychiatrists mitigate by saying “benefits outweigh the risks”: that mantra falls apart when knowing the effects of prescribed drugs.
As a mental health watchdog we remains vigilant to the potential psychiatric abuse that can occur when backs are turned.
It will continue to fight during this unprecedented time and thereafter for those who are on the receiving end of enforced treatment and suffering the consequences.
Brian Daniels. National Spokesperson, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (United Kingdom) PO Box 188. East Grinstead.
“Spare a thought for those in mental health facilities who are detained.”