The problematic nature of ‘being in need’

This new research only confirms previous findings and highlights the problematic nature of the subjective judgments needed to conclude whether a citizen is ‘in need of care’. Littlewood and Lipsedge’s research (Aliens and Alienists, Ethnic Minorities and Psychiatry, 1982) established that UK citizens of Afro-Caribbean origin were more likely not to be a voluntary patient, more likely to see a junior doctor and more likely to receive electro-convulsive therapy and powerful psychotropic drugs.