Involuntary isolation: interpreting mental health legislation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Saadia Sediqzadah; Lwam Ghebrehariat; Kristen T Weersink; David N Fisman; Kendra A Naidoo

doi:10.1192/bjp.2021.94

Involuntary isolation: interpreting mental health legislation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Br J Psychiatry. 2021 Nov;219(5):575-577. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2021.94.

Authors

Saadia Sediqzadah¹, Lwam Ghebrehariat², Kristen T Weersink³, David N Fisman⁴, Kendra A Naidoo⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto; Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto; and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada.
³ Department of Emergency Medicine, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto; and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada.
⁴ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada.
⁵ Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses new and unprecedented challenges to the interpretation of mental health law. The authors present pragmatic and ethical considerations in the psychiatric safety assessment at the intersection of COVID-19 and severe mental illness.

Keywords: Psychiatry and law; psychiatry and COVID19; psychiatry and health policy; psychiatry and infectious disease; psychiatry and public health.

Publication types

Editorial

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Mental Disorders* / epidemiology
Mental Health
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2