Involuntary mental health treatment

Involuntary mental health treatment
Involuntary mental health treatment

Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER

Involuntary mental health treatment

How is this assessment connected to the learning outcomes?

HLTH510: Assignment 1 relates to learning outcomes 1 and 5:

  1. critically analyse the theoretical, legal, ethical and policy frameworks for interprofessional mental health practice including evidence-based interventions for mental health and well-being;
  2. demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills to undertake a mental health assessment and employ common mental health assessment tools within a recovery framework;
  3. plan and execute collaborative mental health care that supports the rights of people and their carers to access and participate in their treatment and recovery across the lifespan in a variety of health and community settings;
  4. demonstrate the application of core skills for low intensity mental health and wellbeing within a recovery framework with high level personal autonomy and accountability; and
  5. demonstrate mastery of and reflect critically on evidence-based practice for common mental health presentations to demonstrate understanding of the impact of health breakdown, the psychosocial dimensions of the illness experience, and the effects on the family and significant others.

Involuntary mental health treatment

Essay topic

The prescriptive nature of Community Treatment Orders (CTO’s)  has led to  debate about the coercive nature of this legislative development.  This debate helps to show the interface between  ethics  and  the law  in mental health practice on what basis is it just to lawfully deprive a person of freedom(s)? Discuss.

Starting references to assist you:

Light, E.M., Kerridge, I.H., Ryan, C.J., & Robertson, M.D. (2012). Community treatment orders in Australia: Rates and patterns of use. Australasian Psychiatry, 20, 478-482.

Light, E.M., Kerridge, I.H., Ryan, C.J., & Robertson, M.D. (2012). Out of sight, out of mind: Making involuntary community treatment visible in the mental health system. Medical Journal of Australia, 196, 591-593.

Please note: you can follow the links provided or access the readings using the UNE library.

Involuntary mental health treatment

Presenting

Each part of this assignment should be a well planned, well presented essay in its own right.

  • Provide an introduction for each Part that explains the purpose of the essay and how it is organized.
  • For a strong conclusion that summarizes the arguments presented at the end of each Part.
  • It is important to remember that the purpose of an introduction is to provide a road map for the reader. In contrast, the purpose of the conclusion is to summarize the main points and provide direction for how to proceed in the future.
  • You should write in complete sentences (i.e. do not use dot points). However, if you think a summary will enhance the contents of your essay you can insert the information usually included in dot point form in a Table. If you do insert a Table or Figure into your essay you will need to make sure the Table or Figure adheres to APA style.
  • The writing style in an essay is more formal than verbal speech. Make sure you do not write as you would speak.
  • The essay must be written in the third person. Please note: the word “I” is not used when writing in the third person.
  • Write your essay from the position of an expert. This means not starting a sentence with a reference and instead places the reference at the end of the sentence in brackets. A reference supports what you are saying, it should not be the main feature of a sentence. For example: “Higgs (2012) states that communication is very important to client safety” can be written as: “Communication is very important to client safety (Higgs, 2012).”
  • Pay attention to how you structure your sentences and paragraphs. A sentence contains one piece of information. Alternatively, a paragraph contains more than one sentence but deals with only one topic. Do not try to put too little or too much information into a paragraph because doing this is confusing for the reader.
  • Pay attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation.
  • Make sure you run the spell checker over you essay and then give it a last proof read before formally submitting for assessment.

Involuntary mental health treatment

Referencing

You must use the APA referencing system. Follow the link at the top right of the page for information and examples of APA referencing.

How many references do I need to include?

You are expected to research each Part widely by using the UNE library online catalogue and journal databases to identify relevant books and peer reviewed journal articles. Please note: Personal experience, newspaper articles, Moodle notes and information obtained from websites, especially those that start with the prefix “wiki”, are not a valid source of information for this assignment.

HLTH510 students are expected to find 15+ peer reviewed sources (i.e. journal articles, books) in addition to your textbook(s), to support the statements in your essay.

In-text referencing

Every statement of fact in an essay must be supported by an in-text reference. Omitting in-text references is a form of “intellectual theft” and will not be tolerated. As a general rule in an empirical essay every paragraph should have at least one in-text reference.

For this unit page numbers are not required for in-text references unless providing a direct quote. For example: Communication is important to client safety (Higgs, 2012). “Communication is important to client safety” (Higgs, 2012, p.28).

Involuntary mental health treatment

Marking criteria

Download the HLTH310 Assignment 1 marking criteria or HLTH510 Assignment 1 marking criteria and submit with your completed assignment as a separate PDF file. Use the marking criteria for your year level as a guide when preparing your assignment.

*Word count

For advice on word count please see the Word/Time/Page limits section in the Assessment summary.

Below is a partial answer to the above homework questions by one of our writers. If you are interested in a custom non plagiarized top quality answer, click order now to place your order.

Involuntary mental health treatment

Introduction

The issue of mental health is one that encompasses various spheres in life. It has an effect on the decisions being made by the individual as well as the choice of life he decides to take. It is therefore mostly looked at through the legal and medical lenses. When one is diagnosed with mental illness, there are various issues that arise such as the capacity of that person to make decisions for himself or for the others around him.

This invites the legal interpretation to try and help in the evaluation of their capacities to make decisions and specifically in terms of medical assistance for their mental incapability. The treatment of people with mental health issues should also be within the ethical and legal parameters. The introduction of the Community Treatment Orders has been welcomed with both enthusiasm as well as disdain. This is because of the mixed reaction that it receives from all quarters.

This is because of the nonconsensual nature and mode of treatment it allows the people with mental health issues to undergo. This is because in the administration of the treatment without the consent of the patient, a violation of their fundamental rights and freedoms is being perpetrated. This paper will look at the issues that have arisen due to the Community Treatment Orders as well as the consequent legal and repercussions.

The Community Treatment Orders and their effect

The Community Treatment Order is an order that permits medical personnel to administer treatments without the consent of the patients to those with mental health problems while they are living with the rest of the community (Mental Health Act, 2009). It allows for the compulsory outpatient treatment of people with mental issues. The main objective of the Act is the provision of treatment and care of people with severe mental illness while observing their fundamental rights and freedoms. This provision gives licensed medical practitioners the leeway in administering treatment to those with mental health issues while still within their communal settings (Light et al, 2012).

The diagnosis of mental health issues is in itself a challenge. This is because of the various manifestations of the characteristics. The high prevalence of the mental health illness in Australia, especially among the young population is alarming. A sizable number of the children and youth in Australia have mental health problems. Approximately a quarter of this population has access to health care that is suited for their specific needs (Sawyer et al, 2001). Such staggering statistics and the future of the country were therefore at risk due to the mental health problems ailing the nation.

The use of the Community Treatment Orders on the youthful population was also a way to ensure that they grow up in their communities for their chances at normal life to be increased. This shows the importance of tackling the mental health problems in a manner that is professional as well as pocket friendly. The Community Treatment Order was for the reduction of these cases as the lack of individual care was highly unlikely. The design of the mental health care system had to be revamped in order to adequately take care of the increasing number of mental health patients (McGorry, Bates and Birchwood, 2013).

In so doing the accessibility of health care for those with severe mental problems and were unable to access it for one reason or the other was statutorily provided for. This method was also meant to decongest the mental hospitals as well as provide the said patients with an opportunity to reintegrate back to the community. The Community Treatment order however comes with various conditions for the patient who risks readmission in to psychiatric facilities in case of non compliance with the set rules.  These are meant to reinforce the voluntariness of the patients into cooperating with the medical practitioners (Owens and Brophy, 2013).

Despite the noble intention to ensure the provision of mental health care to those unable to access it, there are various issues, legal, ethical, theoretical and policy related that have emerged due to this mode of treatment and are yet to be addressed. This has been made worse by the rise in the use of this method of treatment over the past few years. To begin with, the process of the administration of the treatment had very little development. This is especially with regards to the process of identification of the potential patients, the duration of the treatment and the termination of the same (Vine et al, 2016).

The lack of the due process to be followed in the same has created a system that is susceptible to abuse by the health care practitioners mandated to offer these treatment services. The vagaries of this wide berth of power have placed the mental health sector in a state of limbo. This is because of the different processes of treatments that can be administered hence lack of uniformity. The risk that the patients run in the quality of service they receive is also high (Robertson et al, 2013).

The risk that the community where the patient resides is also high as there are times when the mental patient becomes violent or does something that endangers their lives. The Community Treatment order is meant for those with severe mental issues and as such the predictability of their behavioral characteristics is close to nil. It therefore places the general public in danger should the patients lash out. This aspect of the welfare of the rest of the community was overlooked in the best interest of a few.

The observance of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the rest of the population in terms of their safety and peace of mind is thereby compromised. This is just one legal issue that faces the Community Treatment Order. The improvement of the quality of service as well as the establishment of policies and mechanisms to hold and improve the accountability of the Community Treatment order is prudent for these services to achieve their intended purpose. This is in addition to resourcing the medical branch of community health (Light et al, 2017)…..

Involuntary mental health treatment

Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER

Author: admin

This is author biographical info, that can be used to tell more about you, your iterests, background and experience. You can change it on Admin > Users > Your Profile > Biographical Info page."

Unlike most other websites we deliver what we promise;

  • Our Support Staff are online 24/7
  • Our Writers are available 24/7
  • Most Urgent order is delivered with 6 Hrs
  • 100% Original Assignment Plagiarism report can be sent to you upon request.

GET 15 % DISCOUNT TODAY use the discount code PAPER15 at the order form.

Type of paperAcademic levelSubject area
Number of pagesPaper urgencyCost per page:
 Total: