As a psychiatrist and a patient, I know how painful it can be. No amount of legal reform will change that
When I was first admitted to hospital, far away from where I now live, it was with the threat of the Mental Health Act (1983) hanging over me. The horror lives with me still, with surprising clarity. The idea of losing one’s liberty and being powerless to prevent it, whatever you say, is not easy to imagine. In fact, the more you say, the worse it gets, and there is a feeling of duality – of wanting to say all you are really feeling and thinking and also wanting to say anything that might get you out of the situation.
The result, for me, was that I was de facto detained, in that I agreed to admission only under duress, so had none of the rights that should come with actually being detained, even though that would happen if I tried to leave. Fortunately, it was a short admission, but it was very frightening.
