ABSTRACT
Mental hospitals are institutional systems of care and treatment. However, the degree to which they are concerned in the processes of integration and repair, holding and maintenance, integrity and growth, and the extent to which these sometimes conflicting goals are pursued and balanced, needs to be understood within this specific context. In this respect, mental hospitals are required to fulfil a number of functions on a continuum from secure custodial care to active therapy in the treatment and control of people with mental health problems. The legal framework, outlining the civil liberties of patients admitted to hospital under compulsory orders, has been described in Chapter 2 and will not be restated here. While these patients represent a significant and important minority, the majority of patients in hospital are not there against their will. Hence, this chapter takes a broader view within which the termination of a compulsory order would be one necessary element to be considered for facilitating discharge from hospital for those individuals involved.
