| Abstract: | Recently, the US Supreme Court handed down a potentially landmark decision in the area of the right of mental patients to treatment. It is argued that there are 2 inherent flaws in the Court's holding that may significantly diminish its impact: the absence of definition of the concepts dangerous and treatment. This article (a) contends that these flaws reflect the absence of meaningful assistance from the mental health professions and (b) calls for empirical research to assist the judiciary in implementing the long-overdue humane treatment of the mentally ill. Psychiatry is seen as having failed to meet this challenge; it is observed that psychology, with its unique orientation toward scholarship and research, should meet the challenge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
