What is the opinion of the new British governments proposals on mental health?!
Question:
What is the opinion of the new British governments proposals on mental health?
Basically, the British government is proposing that all mentally ill people will be subject to a law that states that if you are mentally ill and you do not take the prescribed medication you will be automatically locked up.
My problem is that I have two people with downs syndrome in my family, my gran has alzheimers, one has autism and am very familiar with other relevant illness's such as depression.
Both of my cousins with downs have been given medication for other symptoms, such as heart problems. Nothing to do with the mental issues that are associated.
My Gran was on medication in the early stages 5 years ago and was experiencing physical pain when on it, yet the doctor refused to change it.
My youngest cousin with autism has his problems but is in no way violent.
All of these people would be locked up with commiting a crime and having no past violence. Even people with mild depression will be locked up if they refuse to take their meds with no say in the matter.
Answers:
This seems like a completely unethical proposal. The biggest "problem" is that most mental health issues (which I'd call disorders or dysfunctions rather than illnesses) can be better helped with therapy than medication. On top of that, most drug studies on antidepressant medication show only a small difference between the drug and placebo groups.
It seems doubtful that a law like that would pass. Forcing people to take medication when they have no previous history of violence seems like a huge human rights violation...