{"id":353767,"date":"2026-02-24T13:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/353767\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:16:10","slug":"iatrogenic-harm-from-restrictive-interventions-in-mental-healthcare-a-human-rights-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/353767\/","title":{"rendered":"Iatrogenic harm from restrictive interventions in mental healthcare: a human rights perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\t\t                        \t        &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t                              \t  <strong><a class=\"blackLink\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.rcni.com\/search\/author\/mhp\/Peter%20Stevens\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Peter Stevens<\/a>  <\/strong> Unrestricted Interventions Ltd, London, England&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t                             <br \/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why you should read this article:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<li>\n<p>\u2022 To understand the types of iatrogenic harm that may result from restrictive interventions and practice in mental healthcare<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\u2022 To learn about the ethical and legal issues associated with restrictive interventions and practice<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\u2022 To consider approaches that could be used in mental health settings to reduce the risk of iatrogenic harm<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The use of restrictive interventions and practice by nurses in mental healthcare has the potential to cause varying levels of iatrogenic harm to patients. Restrictive interventions include physical and mechanical restraint, seclusion and enforced administration of medicines, while restrictive practice includes coercion, deprivation of liberty and reduced autonomy. The severity of physical, psychological and psychosocial harms experienced by patients subjected to these restrictions can be wide ranging. In addition, the use of these interventions and practices gives rise to ethical and moral contradictions, even when they are used legally and are clinically acceptable. This article explores the factors involved in restrictive interventions and practice such as culture, leadership, staffing levels, training, organisational policy and quality of care provision. The author also examines the implications for patients of being subjected to such interventions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mar-bot-15\"><strong>Mental Health Practice<\/strong>.&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong> doi:<\/strong>         10.7748\/mhp.2026.e1772<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Peer review<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mar-bot-15\">This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Correspondence<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mar-bot-15\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.rcni.com\/10.7748\/mailto:pete@uigroup.uk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pete@uigroup.uk<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Conflict of interest<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mar-bot-15\">The author is managing director and principal specialist consultant at Unrestricted Interventions Ltd and undertakes consultancy work as a restraint reduction consultant for Safety Pod International, whose products are discussed in this article. The consultancy role commenced after initial submission. No funding was received for the preparation of this article<\/p>\n<p class=\"mar-bot-15\">Stevens P (2026) Iatrogenic harm from restrictive interventions in mental healthcare: a human rights perspective. Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748\/mhp.2026.e1772<\/p>\n<p>Published online: 24 February 2026<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tWant to read more?&#13;\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/journals.rcni.com\/assets\/img\/RCNi-Plus-logo.svg\" alt=\"RCNi-Plus\" width=\"200.6px\" height=\"50.7px\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong style=\"font-weight:normal\">Already have access? <\/strong><a class=\"customanchor\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.rcni.com\/authenticate\" style=\"color: #000;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Log in<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>or<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t3-month trial offer for \u00a35.25\/month<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong style=\"font-size: 18px;\"> Subscribe today and save 50% on your first three months<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRCNi Plus users have full access to the following benefits:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mt-25\">&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Unlimited access to all 10 RCNi Journals<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>RCNi Learning featuring over 175 modules to easily earn CPD time<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>NMC-compliant RCNi Revalidation Portfolio to stay on track with your progress<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Personalised newsletters tailored to your interests<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>A customisable dashboard with over 200 topics<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t  <\/ul>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t  \t<a href=\"https:\/\/secure.rcni.com\/subscribe\/promo\/tryplus\" class=\"f buttonStyle4 btn btn-sm text-capitalize\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"buy-now\">Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"customanchor\" href=\"https:\/\/secure.rcni.com\/subscribe\/ns-student\" style=\"color: #000;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Find out more<\/strong><\/a>&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; Peter Stevens Unrestricted Interventions Ltd, London, England&#13; &#13; Why you should read this article: \u2022 To understand&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[165758,18,165759,135,165760,19,17,1582,167,165761,24801,4226,25425,165762,165763],"class_list":["post-353767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-control-and-restraint","tag-eire","tag-ethical-issues","tag-health","tag-human-rights-act","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-legal-issues","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-inpatients","tag-professional","tag-psychology","tag-psychosocial","tag-seclusion","tag-secure-settings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116125799848121003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}