The Questionable Legitimacy of Mental Health Laws

Mental health laws require certain criteria to be met in order to apply involuntary measures.These are essentially the following criteria: (1) the demonstrable existence of a mental disorder; (2) the effectiveness of psychiatric measures; (3) the use of coercion as a last resort and as the least possible restriction; (4) the benefit of the person affected to be achieved through the coercive measure; (5) the restoration of the affected person's autonomy. This paper contrasts these requirements with the recent research literature on these topics. Given the current state of research and the recent discussion of fundamental concepts such as 'free will', the analysis suggests that none of the criteria mentioned are clearly met. This means that, in principle, psychiatric coercion can hardly be justified any longer and that the legitimacy of mental health laws is questionable.