How does Court Attendance impact the Mental Health of Patients with Psychiatric Disorders? A Literature Review

Abstract

Discussions with clinical colleagues raised issues that the impact of attending Court seems to have for patients with mental health disorders. A literature search was performed using the clinical databases Psychinfo, CINAHL, Medline, Embase and HMIC. Other sources such as NHS evidence, Health Business Elite and general web searches were carried out. Due to the limited papers located the search was opened to international papers, though in English language. Search terms such as “Court appearance” and “going to Court” were used which were merged with “mentally ill persons.” Different combinations of search terms were inputted, but ultimately 15 research articles were found. The available literature on this topic is scarce, with many identifying the need for further research.