Psycho politics

摘要

Mental health is the Cinderella of the National Health Service. It generally registers on politicians' radar screen only when the public gets worked up about the dangers posed by mad people. New government proposals to reform mental health law are a response to such concerns. The draft bill will make it easier to detain people with a mental disorder who pose a threat to others. Popular worries about this danger are stoked whenever someone with a history of mental illness commits a murder. Such tragedies are often blamed upon the switch to treating people in the community, which has gathered momentum in the past two decades.