Psychiatry, Law and Ethics
WPA Section on Psychiatry, Law and Ethics deals with legal and ethical issues related to the practice of psychiatry. There is a complex interplay between legal issues and ethical dilemmas in mental health care. This is a dynamic intersection, which is always evolving and transforming based on the predominant prevailing discourse.
The Section of Psychiatry, Law and Ethics draws on international conventions, past and present, as well as the moral philosophy and its application to psychiatry. While domestic legislation is different in different countries, Section of Psychiatry, Law and Ethics sets the tone for interpretation of contemporary legal and ethical issues. It is a platform for WPA members to discuss and debate controversies and challenges in this field. The list of members, activities of the section and publications by the section members will be regularly updated here.
The Section of Psychiatry, Law and Ethics draws on international conventions, past and present, as well as the moral philosophy and its application to psychiatry. While domestic legislation is different in different countries, Section of Psychiatry, Law and Ethics sets the tone for interpretation of contemporary legal and ethical issues. It is a platform for WPA members to discuss and debate controversies and challenges in this field. The list of members, activities of the section and publications by the section members will be regularly updated here.
Section Officers
Chair
Roy Abraham Kallivayalil
Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatry Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre
Thiruvalla, Kerala- 689101, India
Contact here
Co-Chair
Prof Tsuyoshi Akiyama
Department of Quality Improvement, NTT Medical Center Tokyo 5-9-22 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 141-8625 Japan
Japan
Contact here
Secretary
Neeraj Gill
School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222 Building location (G40) Room 8.17
.
Contact here
Section member list can be found here
Section publications
Year 2021
Gupta S, Misra M, Gill NS. Mental Health Review Board under the Mental Healthcare Act (India), 2017: A Critique and Learnings from Review Boards of Other Nations. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 81 (2022) 101774. Ghosh S, Gupta S, Singh V. Mental health care act: from Paper to Clinical Practice in the Mental Health Settings, Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine | Volume XX | Issue X | XXXX-XXXX 2021 (ahead of print) Gill N. Lovers of Philosophy. Book Review. Australasian Psychiatry. Published online 18 March 2022. DOI: 10.1177/10398562221077886. Year 2021
Bloch, S., & Green A., S. (2021). Psychiatric Ethics. In Psychiatric Ethics (Vol. 1–Fifth). Oxford University Press. here Gill NS, Parker S, Amos A et al. (2021). Opening the doors: Critically examining the locked wards policy for public mental health inpatient units in Queensland, Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 55(9), 844–848. Pai N, Gupta R, Lakra V, Vella S, Kalra H, Yadav T, Chaturvedi S, Gill NS. (2021). Indian Psychiatrists in the Australian Workforce – from brain drain to brain exchange. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. Published online 9 Sept 2021. DOI: 10.1177/00048674211044099 Year 2020
Harding, K. (2020). Words matter: The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ position statement on personality disorder. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(5), e25. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30126-7 Gill, N. S., Amos, A., Muhsen, H., Hatton, J., Ekanayake, C., Kisely, S. Measuring the impact of mental health legislation on human rights in Queensland, Australia. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Nov–Dec 2020, Vol 73, 101634, pp. 1–9. Gill, N. S., Turner, K. How the statutory health attorney provision in Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld) is incompatible with human rights. Australasian Psychiatry, 2021, Vol 29(1), pp. 72–74. Gill, N. S., Allan, J., Clarke, B., Rosen, A. Human rights implications of introducing a new mental health act – principles, challenges and opportunities. Australasian Psychiatry, 2020, Vol 28(2), pp. 167–172. Year 2019
Gill NS. Human rights framework – an ethical imperative for psychiatry. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2019, Vol 53 (I) 8-10 Year 2018
Bloch, S., Kenn, F., & Smith, G. (2018). Revising the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists code of ethics. Australasian Psychiatry: Bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 26(5), 456–459. Year 2011
Kallivayalil, R. A., & Chadda, R. (2011). Culture, Ethics and Medicine in South Asia. The International Journal of Person Centered Medicine, 1(1), 56–61. Year 2009
Kallivayalil, R. A., Trivedi, J. K., & Tripathi, A. (2009). Social factors and forensic psychiatry in India. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 22(5), 482–487.
Section activities
Section Activity Report Q1 2024
Read the full report here.
Section Activity Annual Report 2024
Read the full report here.
- Symposium on Codes of Ethics at the RANZCP Annual Congress in Sydney, 18 May, 2022 – Prof Paul Appelbaum, Dr Izaak Lim and Sidney Bloch.
- As part of the Section\'s ongoing efforts to support legal and ethical issues related to the practice of psychiatry, Professor Neeraj S Gill has been invited to chair a symposium on “Law and ethics of compulsory psychiatric treatment with special focus on Indigenous populations” at this year’s World Congress of Psychiatry, 2021, Bangkok (Virtual Congress). You can read the symposium summary here.
- Our Section was pleased to co-sponsor a webinar with the Indian Psychiatric Society on 22 August 2021. The webinar discussed “TREATMENT OF PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IN INDIAN MENTAL HEALTH ESTABLISHMENTS: LAWS & ETHICS”.
