The World Health Organizations

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Bachelor of Nursing
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Introduction
Mental illness is a global challenge and the impact it has on the society is alarming and
problematic. According to World Health organization (WHO), mental illness continues to rise
globally and imposes significantly impacts on the social and economic well-being of the affected
persons. The World Health Organization approximates that four-hundred and fifty million people
experiences mental health illness globally with the mental illness contributing to 32% of people
living with disability. Of the estimated 450 million individuals suffering from mental disorders,
25 million were suffering from schizophrenia, 150 million had depression and 90 million were
drug-dependent (Tucci & Moukaddam, 2017). National mental health reported that mental
disorders vary from mild conditions such as eating disorder to severe conditions such as
Schizophrenia which is a psychotic disorder. In Australia Mental illness is very common, 20
percent of Australian between age 16 to 85 experiences a mental disorder in a year. Of the
estimated 20 percent Australians, 8.5% may have one or more types of mental illness and 11.5%
have one disorder. Data collected from the 2014 Mission Australia’s Youth Survey indicated that
the onset of mental illness is around mid to late age of adolescence, in addition the Australia
youth between the age of 18 to 24 years have the highest mental illness prevalence than any
other age group.
Mental disorder has effects on the patient’s behavior and it can lead to irrational
behaviors such as suicidal and violent. Some mentally ill patients are aggressive and violent
hence poses danger to those who are taking care of them. And it is for these reasons that bring
about adoption of safe and appropriate measures to manage mental illness by countries to reduce
the burden. Some of the interventions that are used to manage patient with mental disorders are
pharmacological interventions and psychotherapeutic interventions. The use of restrictive

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measures and coercion is also inevitable in management of mental illness. One of the major ways
that coercive measures can applied is through induction of sleep or calmness in patients with
mental illness patients by the use of sedatives. Drugs that are used to induce sleep or keep
someone calm are known as sedatives. Sedatives is an example of Psychotropics and sedatives
act via modification of the Central nervous system hence alteration of the central nerves
communication of the brain by slowing down the brain activities (Shafiekhani, Mirjalili &
Vazin, 2018). in order for the nurses to deliver these drugs safely, they use restrictive measures
for ease in application of the medication. This is because some patient might present severe
deviates behaviors such kicking and throwing punches that might may cause self-injury or injury
to the nurses. Generally, psychotropics act on the brain and the central nervous system to help
reduce violent behaviors and anxiety. Psychotic medication exists in five classes, stimulants
antipsychotic, antidepressant, mood stabilizers and anxiety agents.
The use of psychotropics to manage mental illness has a greater negative impact
compared to its advantages. Prolonged use of psychotropics medication such as sedatives can
lead to severity in the mental illness. Example of risks associated with long term use of
Psychotropics are; risks of getting amnesia, dementia, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Additionally, long term use of sedatives may lead to over dependency on the sedatives hence
interferes with the patients’ recovery among others (Clayton & Balon, 2009). Other than use of
coercive measure, a better and appropriate way that may be used in management of mental
illness is recovery-oriented mental Health support as supported by the Australian Health
Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC, 2013). Negative impacts caused by restrictive measure
in mental illness has led to controversy and ongoing discussion in Australia and other countries
involved.

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Controversy in the Use of Psychotropics medications to Manage Mental ill Patients
in the 19th Century, there has be an aim at total abolition of the use of coercive measures
in management of people with mental illness. This aim has led to ongoing discussion and
controversy in most of the countries including Australia. Elimination of coercive interventions
has not been effective in any country. however, the discussion is still going on and it has become
important due to various reasons (Luciano et al., 2014). The mass media are concerned and
contradicting the use of coercive interventions with the claim that it does not respect human
rights and their dignity. On the other hand, people argue that the dangers that are imposed by
people with mental disorders are negligible. The united nation-Convention on the rights of
Persons with disabilities has more recently has been acknowledged by Australia and other
countries, emphasized the rights of such susceptible group. A report in 2013, of the special
monitorial torture, degrading or inhuman treatment to the United Nation’s general assembly,
declared to ban involuntary treatment, seclusion and restraint in mental health facilities.
Therefore, most fundamental conflict of ethics in psychiatry exist between the principle of ethics
of duty to prevent harm to the patients/ others and ethical principles to respect the patient’s
autonomy and dignity. The result of this dispute may be undesirable in that it may be concern
with the use of coercive measures, which occurs in many psychiatric treatment which include;
admission of people in Psychiatric hospitals, safety measures in Psychiatric institutions, coercive
treatment within and outside the Psychiatric institutions and hospitals the above measures are
controlled by law, guideline, ethical considerations and court decisions (Steinert et al., 2009).
Additionally, coercive measures are not only based on qualitative arguments but also based on
data concerning metal health care (Hagen, Hjelmeland & Knizek, 2017). This is due to