I hate restraining mental health patients but often it's the only option

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Seriously, where is the cure?

There’s a need for greater transparency in regards to the use of restraint chairs in psychiatric hospitals. For example, I could not find any links that agreed on how many people with mental illness died in a restraint chair in 2014.

I find this troubling.

I am absolutely against forced hospitalization, it is cruel and a blatant
violation of human rights.

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The thing is what to do with those who are a danger to themselves or others but don’t believe they are ill?

Some will say psychological therapies but if you don’t believe you are ill will you agree to any treatment be it medication or psychological?

Short term treatment with an AP to get the person to see they are ill then offer psychological therapies instead?
The trouble is such insight often goes when APs are stopped.

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What is the criteria used to determine if a person is a danger to themselves and/or others? And it will be police officers who make the determination.

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I think it would be mental health professionals who make the determination. I am not sure there is universal agreement on a definition.

Here are two US sites on it.

https://definitions.uslegal.com/d/dangerous-to-self-or-others/
https://sites.google.com/a/state.co.us/cdhs-behavioral-health/home/community-behavioral-health/danger-to-self-others

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@firemonkey

Thanks, that’s very helpful.

I wasn’t saying who’ll make the determination at the hospital; I was saying who’ll make the determination to bring someone to the hospital against their will?

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I guess it would still be a mental health professional.

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@firemonkey

In Florida, police officers, often with no mental health training, make the determination.

Mental health professionals are usually not involved at that point.

There is “Are some people a danger to self or others?” Answer-Yes.

Then there is defining who fits that.

I would agree that it’s a problematic area. However to some extent, whether a person has had MH training or not,common sense would indicate whether a person is likely to be a danger to self or others.

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I think police officers generally are the first responders and have to make the initial determination, possibly in conjunction with paramedics/EMTs if they were called to the scene. However, that initial determination is primarily whether to transport the person to the ER or hospital to be evaluated by qualified medical professionals to assess whether they need to be hospitalized.

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With the second Hospitalization they drugged me up with Haldol injections and strapped me down to a special gurney.

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Hopefully things are better now than when I was an inpatient over 30 years ago . Then disagreeing with a psych nurse could be seen as grounds for a forcible injection.

I remember one time I adamantly refused to go to bed. Two male nurses built like brick â– â– â– â–  houses were summoned who took me over to the closed ward for the night where I was given an injection.

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A reply from a friend on facebook.

Yes, if you know that you’re ill, then you can give informed consent to or refusal of treatment. If you don’t know, then you can’t.

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I can remember being tied down for complaining that I didn’t like the rap music that was being played in the patient lounge. That was not appropriate use of patient restraints as far as I am concerned. I have been tied down more times than I can count. Usually for inappropriate reasons.

I used to hate knocking out mental health workers with my patented uppercut when they would come in to restrain me. Eventually they started sending the goon squad when two weren’t enough.
A visit to the psych ward was like a game of mortal combat back in the good old days when I was young.
Man I wish I still had that fight in me.