Informed Consent: A Monthly Review

This chapter explores the developing emphasis on human rights in mental health care and treatment and what it means in particular for the compulsory treatment of individuals with psychosocial disabilities. Informed consent to treatment is generally presumed to be central to the provision of good-quality health care. However, many countries have mental health laws that enable the detention and treatment without consent of individuals with “psychosocial disabilities”. Awareness of the need to support people with psychosocial disabilities to make their own decisions is an obvious starting point for promoting human rights in this area. Psychologists and professional associations may have a role in ensuring that mental health care and treatment are provided on a voluntary basis as much as possible. The chapter provides an overview of