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Mental health law in New Zealand

Part of: BJPsych International Mental Health Law Profile Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Ian Soosay  and
Rob Kydd
Ian Soosay
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand, email i.soosay@auckland.ac.nz
Rob Kydd
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand, email r.kydd@auckland.ac.nz
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New Zealand has an established history of mental health legislation that sits within a framework of human rights, disability and constitutional protections. We outline a brief history of mental health legislation in New Zealand since its inception as a modern state in 1840. The current legislation, the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992, defines mental disorder and the threshold for compulsory treatment. We describe its use in clinical practice and the wider legal and constitutional context which psychiatrists need to be aware of in their relationships with patients.

Type
Mental Health Law Profile
Information
BJPsych International , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , May 2016 , pp. 43 - 45
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016

References

Brunton, W. (2005) The place of public inquiries in shaping New Zealand's national mental health policy 1858–1996. Australia and New Zealand Health Policy, 2, 24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Human Rights Commission (2010) Making Complaints: A Guide for Mental Health Service Users. HRC. Available at https://www.hrc.co.nz/your-rights/people-disabilities/our-work/making-complaints-guide-mental-health-service-users (accessed March 2016).Google Scholar
Ministry of Health (2012a) Guidelines to the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992. Available at http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/guidelines-mental-health-compulsory-assessment-and-treatment-act-1992 (accessed March 2016).Google Scholar
Ministry of Health (2012b) Guidelines for the Role and Function of Duly Authorised Officers: Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992. Available at http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/guidelines-role-and-function-duly-authorised-offcers (accessed March 2016).Google Scholar
Ministry of Justice (2004) A Guide to the Rights and Freedoms in the Bill of Rights Act for the Public Sector. Available at http://www.justice.govt.nz/publications/publications-archived/2004/guidelines-on-the-new-zealand-bill-of-rights-act/publication (accessed March 2016).Google Scholar
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