| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Psychiatric Bulletin | Advances in Psychiatric Treatment | All RCPsych Journals |
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Institute of Psychiatry/Maudsley Hospital, London
Queen Mary College, University of London
Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
Correspondence: Professor Matthew Hotopf, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ, UK. Tel: +44(0)2078480778; fax: ++44(0)2078485408; e-mail: m.hotopf{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk
Declaration of interest None. The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust.
See pp.
372–378, this issue.
Background Little is known about the proportion of psychiatric in-patients who lackcapacity to make treatment decisions, or the associations of lackof capacity.
Aims To determine the prevalence of psychiatric in-patients who lack capacity to make decisions about current treatment and to identify demographic and clinical associations with lackof mental capacity.
Method Patients (n=112) were interviewed soon after admission to hospital and a binaryjudgement of capacity was made, guided by the MacArthur Competence Tool for Treatment. Demographic and clinical information was collected from an interview and case notes.
Results Of the 112 participants, 49 (43.8%) lacked treatment-related decisional capacity. Mania and psychosis, poor insight, delusions and Black and minority ethnic group were associated with mentalincapacity. Of the 49 patients lacking capacity, 30 (61%) were detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. Of the 63 with capacity, 6 (9.5%) were detained.
Conclusions Lack of treatment-related decisional capacity is a common but by no means inevitable correlate of admission to a psychiatric in-patient unit.
Related articles in BJP:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. Hotopf, G. S Owen, A. S David, and G. Richardson Authors' reply BMJ, July 22, 2008; 337(jul22_3): a902 - a902. [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Dawson Mental capacity and psychiatric admission BMJ, June 30, 2008; 337(jun30_1): a116 - a116. [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. S Owen, G. Richardson, A. S David, G. Szmukler, P. Hayward, and M. Hotopf Mental capacity to make decisions on treatment in people admitted to psychiatric hospitals: cross sectional study BMJ, June 30, 2008; 337(jun30_1): a448 - a448. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. D. Orfei, R. G. Robinson, P. Bria, C. Caltagirone, and G. Spalletta Unawareness of Illness in Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Phenomenological Certainty versus Etiopathogenic Vagueness Neuroscientist, April 1, 2008; 14(2): 203 - 222. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. R J Nicholson, W. Cutter, and M. Hotopf Assessing mental capacity: the Mental Capacity Act BMJ, February 9, 2008; 336(7639): 322 - 325. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Ripley, S. Jones, and A. Macdonald Capacity assessments on medical in-patients referred to social workers for care home placement Psychiatr. Bull., February 1, 2008; 32(2): 56 - 59. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Calton, M. Ferriter, N. Huband, and H. Spandler A Systematic Review of the Soteria Paradigm for the Treatment of People Diagnosed With Schizophrenia Schizophr Bull, January 1, 2008; 34(1): 181 - 192. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. S. Appelbaum Assessment of Patients' Competence to Consent to Treatment N. Engl. J. Med., November 1, 2007; 357(18): 1834 - 1840. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. Parsons and M. Kennedy A review of recorded information given to patients starting to take clozapine and the development of guidelines on disclosure, a key component of informed consent J. Med. Ethics, October 1, 2007; 33(10): 564 - 567. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. OKAI, G. OWEN, H. McGUIRE, S. SINGH, R. CHURCHILL, and M. HOTOPF Mental capacity in psychiatric patients: Systematic review The British Journal of Psychiatry, October 1, 2007; 191(4): 291 - 297. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. TYRER The British Journal of Psychiatry, October 1, 2007; 191(4): 372 - 372. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Church and S. Watts Assessment of mental capacity: a flow chart guide Psychiatr. Bull., August 1, 2007; 31(8): 304 - 307. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Y. H. Kim, P. S. Appelbaum, J. Swan, T. S. Stroup, J. P. McEvoy, D. C. Goff, D. V. Jeste, J. S. Lamberti, A. Leibovici, and E. D. Caine Determining when impairment constitutes incapacity for informed consent in schizophrenia research The British Journal of Psychiatry, July 1, 2007; 191(1): 38 - 43. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Claassen Financial incentives for antipsychotic depot medication: ethical issues J. Med. Ethics, April 1, 2007; 33(4): 189 - 193. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Beckett and R. Chaplin Capacity to consent to treatment in patients with acute mania Psychiatr. Bull., November 1, 2006; 30(11): 419 - 422. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Chiswick test of capacity has little practical benefit BMJ, December 17, 2005; 331(7530): 1469 - 1470. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
Read all eLetters
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Psychiatric Bulletin | Advances in Psychiatric Treatment | All RCPsych Journals |
