Mental Health And Involuntary Admission As A Means Of Restricting Rights

Involuntary admission to a mental health facility is an extreme measure that compromises several human rights, including the right to live and work, liberty, privacy, integrity and personal mental and physical health. This measure is justified when people with mental disorders need to be protected from themselves and in order to protect society. There are several international human rights instruments that deal with the exceptional circumstances where people with mental disorders can be involuntarily hospitalized. This theoretical-reflective work's objective is to discuss involuntary admission as a means of restricting rights and describes the main human rights violated due to involuntary admission.