| Abstract: | Comments on the article by T. S. Szasz (see record 1983-05532-001) in which he discusses the psychiatric will, a legal mechanism to protect persons against involuntary psychiatric interventions. The current author notes that Szasz ignored one central fact--the average length of stay in state mental hospitals is less than one month and the average length of stay in state prisons is measured in months and years. Therefore, if all dangerously mentally ill persons were processed through the criminal justice system, as Szasz recommends, rather than involuntarily hospitalized, the result would be a much longer period of confinement, which does not promote liberty and freedom. How is this humane and progressive? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
