Does forcing mentally ill people into treatment work?

Imagine going to your doctor and having treatment forced upon you. This is called compulsory treatment and in Australia it’s legal.

Compulsory mental health treatment is when a psychiatrist believes that a patient is at a severe risk of harming themselves or others, who can then be forced to take medication or undergo treatment.

But how subjective is that decision on labelling the risk? And if the medical practitioner gets it wrong it means a loss of their rights, and quite often incredibly strong and debilitating medication.

Dr Kay Wilson from the University of Melbourne joins the Briefing to explain how compulsory treatment works and the stigmas attached to mental health in Australia.

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