Mental Health Law Policy and Practice, 4th Edition

• Well structured account of mental health law incorporating helpful case studies, which helps to put the theory into practice
• Includes analysis of the law from socio-legal, historical, sociological, and cultural perspectives, encouraging students to consider a wide range of viewpoints when reflecting on the ethical issues raised
• Extensive bibliography enables students to access additional writings on mental health, benefiting their research for essays and exams
• Supported by an accompanying website (Online Resource Centre) which provides updates and web links, keeping students in touch with developments

New to this edition

• Significant restructuring of the text to take account of changes in law, policy, and practice since the previous edition.
• New and expanded coverage of various topics including: the 2007 reforms to the 1983 Mental Health Act; DOLS and the MHA/MCA interface; the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• New coverage on the interface between community care provision and the benefits and housing systems, as well as issues relating to access to employment.
• Expanded coverage on children and mental health law.

Written by two of the country's leading specialists in mental health law, this book provides a detailed overview of the law and the socio-legal, historical, sociological, and cultural issues that surround it. Mental health law, at its heart, involves the forcible confinement and medication of some of society's most vulnerable people, and the authors look closely at the legal and social issues raised by this, and the human rights of those who suffer from mental illness. 

With reference to recent cases and new legislation, Peter Bartlett and Ralph Sandland analyse the legal structure and functions of the mental health system, and the problems of characterizing mental health law. The case law and statutes contain implied premises as to what it is to be a citizen, what the role of the state is for the vulnerable, and what the relative roles of law and medicine are in the regulation of control and deviance. Mental health law is an area of considerable legal and social complexity, and the authors challenge readers to question the system and the policies that have been developed.

Readership: Undergraduate and postgraduate students studying mental health law as part of their LLB or LLM courses. Professional mental healthcare workers and administrators.