#11455. SIDMA as a criterion for psychiatric compulsion: An analysis of compulsory treatment orders in Scotland
August 2026 | publication date |
Proposal available till | 22-05-2025 |
4 total number of authors per manuscript | 0 $ |
The title of the journal is available only for the authors who have already paid for |
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Journal’s subject area: |
Law;
Pathology and Forensic Medicine;
Psychiatry and Mental Health; |
Places in the authors’ list:
1 place - free (for sale)
2 place - free (for sale)
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More details about the manuscript: Science Citation Index Expanded or/and Social Sciences Citation Index
Abstract:
Mental health legislation includes a unique criterion for the use of compulsion in the delivery of mental health care and treatment. Patients must exhibit ‘significantly impaired decision-making ability’ (SIDMA) in order to be eligible for psychiatric detention or involuntary psychiatric treatment outside the forensic context. The SIDMA requirement represents a distinctive strategy in ongoing international efforts to rethink the conditions under which psychiatric compulsion is permissible. We reconstruct the history of the Scottish SIDMA requirement, analyse its differences from so-called ‘fusion law,’ and then examine how the SIDMA standard actually functions in practice. We analyse 100 reports that accompany applications for Compulsory Treatment Orders (CTOs). Based on this analysis, we provide a profile of the patient population that is found to exhibit SIDMA, identify the grounds upon which SIDMA is attributed to individual patients, and offer an assessment of the quality of the documentation of SIDMA. We consider what lessons might be drawn both for the ongoing review of mental health legislation, and for law reform initiatives in other jurisdictions.
Keywords:
Capacity; Impaired decision making; Insight; Mental health legislation; Psychiatric compulsion
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