Furthermore, the new Act aims to give the Commission and the responsible medical officer of the patient the right to refer a compulsory treatment order to the Tribunal for review if an essential element of the order is not provided. It also aims to treat offenders within the mental health system in the same way as civil patients in accordance to justice and public safety. Finally, the 2003 Act aims to give powers to the Tribunal to make important decisions for some restricted patients and the power to certain patients that are subject to hospital directions to ask the Scottish Minister to cancel these directions ().
The new Act differs from the Act 1984 in several areas, so that people with mental disorders receive more effective care and treatment than before. The main changes of the new Act include the criteria that have to be met before the compulsory treatment, the system that makes the decisions about compulsory treatment orders which is fairer than before and Mental Welfare Commission’s powers and duties. Moreover, the Act 2003 differs in the arrangements of mentally ill people within the criminal justice system by making them fairer and safer, the representation of the patient and the safeguards for special medical treatments ().
Through the changes of the Act 2003, people will stay in hospital for shorter time than before and people who used to be treated in hospital will be actively supported in the community. Patients will be more respected by the society. Furthermore, patients will have access to skilled psychological interventions from several staff groups and not only psychology. Through the new Act people, with mental disorders will have social support including housing, social activities and education. It will also pay attention to alcohol problems, will help to minimize the impact of personality problems, support for recovery and pay attention to the developmental needs of all the patients and particularly young people and people with learning disabilities ().
Mental health is important not only for people with mental disorders but also for all the society. Health Minister Susan Deacon said that tackling mental health is one of the most important health challenges the society faces today. Improvement of mental health for people suffering from a mild depression to schizophrenia requires a broad approach. This includes better prevention, appropriate treatment and modern legislation. She also added that the new proposals provide clearer, safer and fairer arrangements for mentally ill patients, their families and carers and that these proposals represent the biggest overhaul of mental health laws in Scotland ().
On the other hand, a study made in 2003, predicted that there will be an increase of 27% overall in the amount of time professionals will have to spent to comply with the requirements of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2003. It also found that independent doctors will have to spend 207% and social workers 30% more time to comply with the new Act. Therefore, the implications of this study show that the new Act will require extra resources including both financial and human. However, there is already insufficient number of second opinion approved doctors and independent doctors available to the mental health review tribunal. Thus, if this prediction is not taken into account seriously before the new Act will be implemented, patients’ clinical care is likely to be compromised ().
Concerning the sociology aspects about mental health, sociology states that mental illness is socially constructed. Hollingshead and Redlich’s study in 1958 showed that the rate and types of diagnosis of a mental illness differed among people from different social classes. Although this variation was due to material or environmental conditions, the beliefs and assumptions of clinicians about different social groups were affecting their judgements ().
Each person belongs to one or more groups as defined by race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, socio-economic status, sexual orientation and history of social oppression. People that seek recovery experience various effects of their mental illnesses or co-occurring disorders in addition to discrimination and oppression that results from the other groups which they belong (Finley, 2003). Therefore, to prevent this problem, it is important to reduce the effects of isolation and self-blame by putting a label to the toxic events which validates the experience. It is also essential to differentiate the responsibility of the perpetrator or system from that which belongs to the person. However, some may require ways to recognize the more subtle forms of discrimination and oppression. Moreover, there are several cognitive-behavioral strategies, which reduce the effects of the concomitant stressors and develop more coping behaviors (Finley, 2003).
In conclusion, the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 is considered as the most important reform of mental health law in Scotland for more than 40 years, as it makes several changes that would improve the life of people with mental health disorders. However, effective care and treatment of people with mental health illnesses depends not only on what the 2003 Act says, but also on policies, practices and actions of a wide range of organizations and people and on how well they co-operate ().
In other words, it depends on the way professionals discharge their specific functions under the Act, how service providers organize and deliver services to make the Act work properly and how organizations help to remedy the failures that are made in the treatment of people. Effective care and treatment of mentally ill patients also depends on the quality of care and treatment that is provided to them and on how service users and carers are encouraged to take part in their care and treatment (). Families and friends, self-help and community groups also provide quite enough support to people with mental health disorders (World Health Organisation, 2004).
The Scottish Association for Mental Health also outlines some general issues that the parliament should take into account including more money for mental health, more funding for research into alternatives to drug treatments, more attention on the mental health of children and consideration of new laws for the harassment of mentally ill people. Finally, politicians should stop using discriminatory language or inappropriate medical terms such as ‘schizophrenic’ or ‘manic’ ().
REFERENCES
Finley, L. CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News. (2003) Consumer/Survivor Mental Health Information. Vol. 03-119
Pilgrim, D. Rogers, A. (1999) A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness. Open University Press.
World Health Organisation. (2004) Guide to Mental and Neurological Health in Primary Care. RSM Press.
Internet Resources
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Scottish Association for Mental Health, 2004. SAMH news: SAMH Agenda for Mental Health
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Scott, S., 2000 The Sociology of Psychiatry and Mental Illness
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