Treatment for Mental Disorder Law. Psychology Essay. (Essay Sample)

Treatment for Mental Disorder
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Introduction.
The existing law has some controls, regarding the involuntary treatment of a person who has been detained on the condition of medical reasons, under the Mental Health Act of 1983. The mental health act, as amended in 2007, contains therein as to the restrictions that govern the compulsory mental treatment of the detained patient.’ According to article 3 of the ECHR, it is stipulated that no person should be subjected to any kind of torture or treatment that is inhuman or degrading in any way. It is, therefore, imperative that the court considers this article when dealing with a situation of, for example, of dealing with people who may need refugee protection. It should be noted that while the ECHR cannot be considered to be an international instrument that can be used in the protection of the refugees per se, the court has interpreted this article to be sufficient in providing protection that is effective against circumstances and places where there is a probability that a person can be subjected to inhuman treatment, punishment or torture. In this paper, therefore, seeks to discuss whether treatment for mental disorder against a person's will should always be seen as contrary to Article 3 of the ECHR.’[Gajwani Ruchika, Parsons Helen, Birchwood Max and Singh Swaran, ‘Ethnicity and detention: are Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups disproportionately detained under the Mental Health Act 2007?’ (2016) Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 51(5), pp.703-711.] [Mavronicola Natasa, ‘what is an ‘absolute right? Deciphering Absoluteness in the Context of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights’ (2012) Human rights lawreview, 12(4), pp.723-758.]
The protection provided by Article 3 of the ECHR
The European centre for the prevention of torture (CPT) has the mandate of examining the treatment of all people who have been denied their liberty under the authority of the public, especially the people with mental disorders. According to CPT, priority should be given when visiting psychiatric establishments to ensure that there are no ill-treatments in these establishments. CPT, therefore, guides that effort should be made to ensure that patients in these establishments are treated in a humane way at all times.’[Schmuck Rudolf, ‘The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)-Fundamentals, Structure, Objectives, Potentialities, Limits’ (2012) JIJIS, 1, p.69.]
The Herzegfalvy v. Austria case, illustrate the protections that are found in article 3 of ECHR. This case has significantly influenced the ECHR's approach regarding the care and treatment in psychiatric facilities for many years. Scrutinizing the evidence brings into the fore that views about people with mental disorders have changed over time, and when dealing with cases like this, the fact always has to be categorized so that it may be possible to ascertain whether Article 3 has been violated of not. For instance, the court, in this case of Herzegfalvy v. Austria, held that the handcuffing of the applicant to a bed for two weeks was not in violation of the article but was a matter of medical treatment. In this case, the court considered this