Posted by Jeroen on November 30, 2008, at 14:14:48
this is latest news from schizophrenia.com
The locking of mental health patients into their wards in NHS hospitals makes them more likely to be violent, harm themselves and refuse medication, new research shows.Treating people with depression, schizophrenia or manic moods as if they were prisoners is designed to promote safety, but increases the risk of them attacking nurses or fellow patients, according to the study by London's City University.
'A locked-doors approach is more likely to leave the patient seeing the ward as a prison, themselves as prisoners and the staff as jailers,' said Professor Len Bowers, who led the research. He found half of all hospital wards which look after those being treated under the Mental Health Act use a 'locked doors' approach.
But Bowers and his team found that it leads to patients feeling frustrated, stigmatised and depressed, and that can result in them being unruly. The policy increases the risk of physical aggression to others by 11 per cent, self-harm (20 per cent) and refusal of medication (22 per cent). The study found that while patients held this way are 25 per cent less likely to escape and commit suicide outside, those who cannot go out are more likely to feel worthless and suicidal.
Strict security does not reduce the 150-strong toll of such patients who take their own life each year, said Bowers. He argued that wards should be unlocked, with staff placed at the entrance to check who enters and leaves. There are about 10,000 people in the UK on acute psychiatric wards
poster:Jeroen
thread:865930
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081123/msgs/865930.html