What is it about?
This article looks at the concept of 'supported decision-making', which emerged from the development of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It asks what this human rights-based concept means for the mental health context. It also examines the tension raised by the concept given that mental health legislation authorises involuntary psychiatric intervention - ie. substituted decision-making - against persons with psychosocial disabilities.
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Why is it important?
Supported decision-making is seen as a concept that exemplifies the shift brought about by the UN Convention. It has major implications for mental health law, policy and practice, which is still based in many parts of the world on a paternalistic and substituted decision-making framework.
Perspectives
This was a piece I wrote early on in my investigation into the implications of the CRPD for mental health law and policy. It was my attempt to make sense of the complexities of the conflict. There are some elements of the article that I would revise if I could turn back time - my discussion of mental capacity is somewhat naive. Yet, the article may provide a useful summary of key issues for readers who are wishing to learn about supported decision-making and what it means for the mental health context.
Dr Piers M Gooding
University of Melbourne
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Psychiatrists’ Perceptions of Supported Decision-Making: A Victorian Empirical Study, Psychiatry Psychology and Law, December 2014, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13218719.2014.983217.
You can read the full text:
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