The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has updated its Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including with new information specifically addressed to individuals in the European Economic Area. As described in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, this website utilizes cookies, including for the purpose of offering an optimal online experience and services tailored to your preferences.

Please read the entire Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. By closing this message, browsing this website, continuing the navigation, or otherwise continuing to use the APA's websites, you confirm that you understand and accept the terms of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the utilization of cookies.

×
No Access

Refusing treatment for mental illness: historical and ethical dimensions

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.137.3.329

The author summarizes the historical bases for overzealous intervention by physicians, noting the tensions among medical technology, nature as a healing force, and the physician's warrant to treat. He discusses John Mill's On Liberty and Gerald Dworkin's "Paternalism" and suggests that there are times when the intervention should be withheld, but never the care.

Access content

To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access.