현행 정신건강복지법에 관한 고찰

Abstract

In recent years, our society has seen a rise in the number of crimes described as "nonspecific motive crime", leading the public to believe that these crimes are related to mental illness. However, contrary to this perception, only 1.1 per cent of suspects are mentally ill as of 2023. People with mental illness are being forced to face the reality of compulsory isolation against their will. In Korea, the understanding of mental illness is still very low, and the view of mental illness is still very negative, not only for the sufferers themselves, but also for society, so even their families are reluctant to expose them to the public. Therefore, based on the understanding of mental health and mental illness, this article examines the problems of the current Act on the Promotion of Mental Health and Support for Welfare Services for the Mentally Ill and how to improve it. Firstly, it noted that 30 years after the enactment of the 1995 Act, access to mental health services remains low. Secondly, it emphasised the need for the state to ensure that no one voluntarily discontinues treatment for mental illness and to support those in need of ongoing treatment. Third, the importance of the appropriateness of the criteria and process of hospitalisation for visa holders who are forced to be hospitalised regardless of their will was expressed. Fourth, the need to establish appropriate criteria through a comprehensive review is necessary due to the diversity of patients when admitted and discharged from hospital by the mayor, governor, mayor, county governor, or mayor of a special autonomous region, and the need for individuation of patients. Fifth, outpatient treatment costs are supported for people who have been hospitalised unwillingly due to behaviour that harms themselves or others, or for people who have stopped treatment while receiving inpatient or outpatient treatment, and it was stressed that measures should be taken to increase the uptake of this system. Sixth, in relation to physical restrictions such as isolation or restraint, it was proposed that the reasons for physical restrictions and the conditions for lifting them should be mandatorily notified to the mentally ill and their guardians, and that the current "Guidelines for Isolation and Compulsion" of the Ministry of Health and Welfare should be upgraded to a Ministry of Health and Welfare Ordinance to increase its normative power.