The Sagamihara incident at the Tsukui Yamayurien facility changed the direction of arguments during the Meeting on Mental Health and Welfare in June 2016 to discussion on the next revision of the Act on Mental Health and Welfare for the Mentally Disabled in response to the supplementary provisions in the 2013 Revised Act. Discussion on this bill was further complicated in the 2017 Diet and is still pending at this time. From the viewpoint of a psychiatric social worker, I will herein discuss the current situation of and issues with involuntary hospitalization, especially compulsory hospitalization, in light of the next Act revision.
The discussions at the meeting were influenced by the Tsukui Yamayurien incident, and the bill thus became highly focused on the compulsory hospitalization system and public security. However, when current situations surrounding issues of involuntary hospitalization are examined, improvement of the mental health system in the community is what is most urgently needed.
<Author's abstract>
For the Next Revision of the Act of Mental Health and Welfare for the Mentally Disabled: Present Conditions and Issues with the Compulsory Hospitalization System
Teikyo Heisei University Faculty of Modern Life Department of Human Culture Welfare Course
Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica
120: 672-679, 2018
<Keywords:process of legal revision, review induced by supplementary provisions, issues with the compulsory hospitalization system>