In a Viewpoint article for the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Swanson discusses gun violence, the role mental illness plays in mass tragedies, and warns against crisis-driven policy.
A recovery-based mental health system uses coercion only when necessary to prevent harm or arrest severe deterioration, only as a last resort, and always with respect for the person's dignity. Recovery envisions a process by which persons experiencing a mental disorder take control of their lives, including planning for care in a crisis, assisted by caring partners. For those who are strongly treatment-resistant or have not begun the recovery process, there may be no alternative to coercion.
This study takes as a starting place the inherent tension between public safety and civil rights in considering mental illness as a significant concern for firearms policy and law. This means grappling with the full range of social benefits and costs that may accrue in casting a wide net with a broad mesh to find a few dangerous people among the many with largely non-dangerous disorders of thought, mood, and behavior.
This article reports results of a survey of 460 individuals in five stakeholder groups during the initial implementation period of a Virginia health care law that enables competent adults with serious mental illness to plan for treatment during incapacitating crises using an integrated advance directive with no legal distinction between psychiatric or other causes of decisional incapacity. The study concludes that relevant stakeholders support implementation of advance directives for mental health, but level of baseline knowledge and perception of barriers vary.
This monograph illuminates one key component of service systems, policing, highlighting the role of police officers as front-line workers in the community, and it examines trends in thinking and practice and common challenges surrounding policing and mental illnesses internationally.
Mental illness is a significant global public health issue. Disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression put an enormous strain on afflicted individuals, their caregivers and communities. Yet in some respects, acceptance of mental illness as a key part of the broader field of public health has developed only recently. What is the emerging role of law and policy in addressing the complex problems around mental illness from a public health perspective, and what is the agenda for research to inform those efforts?
