Mental Health, Legal Capacity, and Human Rights

Since adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the interpretive General Comment 1, the topic of legal capacity in mental health settings has generated considerable debate in disciplines ranging from law and psychiatry to public health and public policy. With over 180 countries having ratified the Convention, the shifts required in law and clinical practice need to be informed by interdisciplinary and contextually relevant research as well as the views of stakeholders. With an equal emphasis on the Global North and Global South, this volume offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of legal capacity in the realm of mental health. Integrating rigorous academic research with perspectives from people with psychosocial disabilities and their caregivers, the authors provide a holistic overview of pertinent issues and suggest avenues for reform.

Michael Ashley Stein is the Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. Considered one of the world's leading experts on disability law and policy, Stein participated in the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; works with disabled peoples' organizations and non-governmental organizations around the world; actively consults with governments on their disability laws and policies; advises an array of UN bodies and national human rights institutions; and has brought landmark disability rights litigation globally.

Faraaz Mahomed is a research associate at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, and a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Mahomed self-identifies as a person with a psychosocial disability and has worked in mental health practice, in community-based as well as institutionalized settings, as a clinical psychologist. He now works in the human rights field, supporting rights-based approaches to mental health in Africa at the Open Society Foundations. He received a Fulbright scholarship in 2008.

Vikram Patel is The Pershing Square Professor of Global Health in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Vikram's work has focused on the burden of mental health problems, their association with social disadvantage, and the use of community resources for their prevention and treatment. He has been awarded the Chalmers Medal, the Sarnat Prize, the Pardes Humanitarian Prize, an honorary OBE, and the John Dirk Canada Gairdner Award in Global Health for his leading work in the field.

Charlene Sunkel is the Founder and CEO of the Global Mental Health Peer Network. She is a global mental health lived-experience advocate, and she has authored or co-authored a number of papers related to mental health and human rights. Sunkel also serves on or advises several international boards and committees.