REASONS FOR ABUSE THE USE OF DIRECT COERCION AGAINST PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISORDERS – HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND DE LEGE FERENDA POSTULATES

Abstract

In recent years, due to ongoing pandemics and natural disasters, and armed conflicts, the state of mental health in the world is drastically deteriorating. Research shows that already about 25% of Polish society struggles with mental disorders. These persons should be subject to special protection by state authorities, and all measures applied to them, in particular direct coercion measures, should be subject to strict conditions and rules. This article aims to present the causes of abuses in the use of direct coercion measures against people with mental disorders, as well as to present solutions that would guarantee a higher level of their protection. The work also presents psychological aspects, and constitutional guarantees and other areas of law were also used to a limited extent. Although the subject is very popular and there are numerous studies on the direct coercion measures themselves, no publication has yet appeared that would try to comprehensively present the subject of their use against people with mental disorders.