A Practitioner’s Guide to the Mental Health Care Act explains how the South African mental health system functions for those who implement the Act, those who administer it and those affected by it.

The book outlines and explains how the Mental Health Care Act and its regulations are applied to or administered by assisted users, involuntary users, State patients, the intellectually disabled, mentally ill prisoners, heads of establishments and mental health review boards.

A Practitioner’s Guide to the Mental Health Care Act provides ready access to the law on mental health care in the context of the Constitution, case law and international law.

‘This book will be an invaluable resource in mental health law in South Africa.’
Prof Sean Kaliski, Head of Forensic Psychiatry in the Western Cape.

• Part A – Introduction
  • Mental health care and the Mental Health Care Act
  • Mental health and intellectual disability care – a medical concept
  • An introduction to law and international treaties
  • The rights of mental health care users and the duties of mental health care providers and practitioners

• Part B – Administration of the Act
  • Administrators of the Mental Health Care Act
• Part C – Care, treatment and rehabilitation
  • Health establishments, users and mental health care providers
  • Emergency treatment or admission without consent
  • Voluntary users
  • Assisted users
  • Involuntary users
  • Severely or profoundly intellectually disabled users
• Part D – Forensic users: Observation, state patients and mentally ill sentenced prisoners
  • Observation of persons accused of committing crime
  • State patients
  • Mentally ill prisoners

• Part E – Institutions providing protection and redress
  • Mental health review boards
  • Judicial oversight

• Part F – Assistance and support of other state departments
  • Assistance and intervention of the South African Police Service
  • Departments of correctional services, justice, education, public service and administration, social development and finance

• Part G – Property of a user and miscellaneous
  • Care and administration of property of mentally ill persons or persons with severe or profound intellectual disabilities
  • Miscellaneous

• Appendices
  • Mental Health Care Act 17 of 2002
  • Mental Health Care Amendment Act 12 of 2014
  • Mental Health Care Act 17 of 2002: general regulations

• CD containing Mental Health Care Act forms 

• Lawyers
• Judges
• Psychiatrists
• Psychologists
• Psychiatric nurses
• Medical schools
• Nursing colleges
• Mental health review boards