From Stuff: In 2015, the United Nations Committee Against Torture expressed concern at New Zealand’s use of seclusion against mental health patients. According to a new target set by health authorities, the practice of secluding mental health patients should be abandoned within two years.
I like what Humphry Osmond did to the seclusion rooms when he became Superintendent of Weyburn Hospital, Saskatchewan, one of the worst mental hospitals in the world, at the time. He trashed the mattresses and turned the rooms into retreats, with the addition of furniture and decent lighting. Instead of giant fights to “seclude” patients, it sometimes became necessary to persuade patients to come back out onto the ward, so others could use the rooms.
