Excluding autism or excluding everything? The problem of broad definitions in the England and Wales Draft Mental Health Bill

Abstract

The recent Draft Mental Health Bill for England and Wales proposes changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 which will include, for the first time, a legal definition of autism. This article explores the specific potential issue that the definition, owing to its breadth, potentially encompasses a number of conditions other than autism, consequently leaving the definitionally dependent concept of ‘psychiatric disorder’ significantly narrowed in scope. The potential implications of this – primarily the concern that a range of other conditions and presentations could be unintentionally excluded from the scope of the civil powers in the Mental Health Act – are discussed.

Keywords

• Psychiatry and law
• autism spectrum disorders
• in-patient treatment
• comorbidity
• consent and capacity