Should Psychotics Be Forced to Take Drugs?

When should a mentally ill person considered dangerous to others be forced to take pscyhotropic medications? After the Virginia Tech massacre, this preventive -- and, many say, inhumane -- approach to public safety and individual care was bound to enter the public conversation once more.

National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation brings together a psychiatrist, the mother of a schizophrenic man and a patient rights advocate to discuss one of the most controversial issues in mental health:

Paramjit Joshi, chief of psychiatry at Children's National
Medical Center in Washington: Most states have what we call involuntary commitment, and it's a due process -- it's not a decision that's made lightly. If we come across a patient who is an imminent dangent to himself or to others -- and some states draw a distinction between likely and imminent danger -- then you can actually commit the patient for a short period of time....

Balancing public safety, forced mental treatment [NPR]

Image: Chrissy