Sir, – The College of Psychiatrists’ statement on the proposed amendments to the 2001 Mental Health Act represents a disappointing intercession in Ireland’s efforts to implement the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The college’s position represents an outdated mode of thinking that construes coercion with care and assumes enforced psychiatric treatment is in the best interests of people in distress.
A substantial body of research, and the voices and experiences of those who have long advocated for a human rights-based approach to mental health, would suggest otherwise. The proposed amendments to the 2001 Mental Health Act do not remove the option for involuntary detention but simply seek to safeguard the basic human rights of people in distress. Indeed, as a range of experts outlined to the Government sub-committee on mental health on March 8th, these amendments may not go far enough.
The proposed amendments to the Mental Health Act, and the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, represent a welcome opportunity for Ireland to move beyond its dark history of silencing and controlling the most vulnerable in our society. – Yours, etc,
Dr EMMA FARRELL,
School of Education
University College Dublin,
Member of College of
Psychiatrists of Ireland
advisory board.