Law and Psyche (LAW536H1F)

The course will explore this terrain through detailed analyses of aspects of the Ontario Mental Health Act as a point of entry into mental health law generally.  Topics to be examined may include the concept of consent under mental health law; the distinction between involuntary admission under the law of mental health and incarceration under the criminal law, treatment and punishment, hospitals and prisons; the relation between mental health law and the law of medically assisted death; the rights of persons detained under the law of mental health law and the corresponding duties of detaining authorities towards those detained under the law of mental health. In addition to the Ontario Mental Health Act and related jurisprudence and commentary, materials to be examined may include selected literary (e.g. Kafka), psychoanalytic (e.g. Freud) and/or philosophical texts (e.g. Foucault). No previous expertise required.