Citation

Ellard J. Aust. N. Zeal. J. Psychiatry 1989; 23(2): 169-175.

Affiliation

Northside Clinic, Greenwich NSW.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2673193

Abstract

Since psychosis occasionally leads to behaviour requiring constraint, psychiatrists are involved in decisions which may lead to loss of liberty. In some places and at some times psychiatrists and their predecessors have made those decisions unrestrained. This essay considers how we have used that power in the past, indicates some of the abuses extant now, recognises that there is no satisfying solution to the problems which exist and argues for the consistency of the legal system with all its limitations rather than the uncertain and unrestrained judgment of individual psychiatrists.

Language: en