Restrained Psychiatric Outpatients: Necessity, Justification or Violation of Human Rights?

Seventy patients were brought restrained to a Psychiatric outpatient department over a three month period, with the commonest site of restraint being the wrist. They were compared with controls and it was found that restrained patients were more likely to be younger, belonging to a lower socioeconomic status, from a rural background and were more likely to be diagnosed as manic. The significance of these findings and their implications for the human rights of the mentally ill are discussed.