ABSTRACT
Mental health law is a rapidly evolving area of practice and research, with growing global dimensions. This work reflects the increasing importance of this field, critically discussing key issues of controversy and debate, and providing up-to-date analysis of cutting-edge developments in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Australia.
This is a timely moment for this book to appear. The United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) sought to transform the landscape in which mental health law is developed and implemented. This Convention, along with other developments, has, to varying degrees, informed sweeping legislative reforms in many countries around the world. These and other developments are discussed here. Contributors come from a wide range of countries and a variety of academic backgrounds including ethics, law, philosophy, psychiatry, and psychology. Some contributions are also informed by lived experience, whether in person or as family members. The result is a rich, polyphonic, and sometimes discordant account of what mental health law is and what it might be.
The Handbook is aimed at mental health scholars and practitioners as well as students of law, human rights, disability studies, and psychiatry, and campaigners and law- and policy-makers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|66 pages
Background and context
chapter 2|21 pages
Independent mental health monitoring
part 2|66 pages
European and international standards
chapter 5|23 pages
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and mental health laws
part 3|106 pages
Specific groups
chapter 11|21 pages
The use of trans-related diagnoses in health care and legal gender recognition
part 4|72 pages
Forensic psychiatry and criminal law
chapter 16|19 pages
Capturing mental health issues in international criminal law and justice
part 5|132 pages
Issues, controversies, challenges
chapter 24|19 pages
Consenting for prevention
part 6|158 pages
Developments in specific regions and jurisdictions
chapter 26|16 pages
Mental health law and practice in Ghana
chapter 27|18 pages
Regulating mental health care in South Africa
chapter 30|16 pages
India's Mental Healthcare Act, 2017
chapter 31|15 pages
An alternative to mental health law
chapter 32|16 pages
Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru
part 7|112 pages
Future directions