Further thoughts on the process of restraint

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 55 - 60
• Main Author: WINSHIP, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.02.2006; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: David Bennett inquiry; Evidence-Based Medicine; Forecasting; Humans; management of violence; Mental Disorders - therapy; Nursing Evaluation Research; Patient Isolation - organization & administration; Philosophy, Medical; Philosophy, Nursing; physical restraint; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Psychiatric Nursing - organization & administration; Psychiatry - organization & administration; Restraint, Physical - adverse effects; Restraint, Physical - methods; Restraint, Physical - standards; Security Measures - organization & administration; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 1351-0126; 1365-2850
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2006.00913.x

The physical restraint of a disturbed person is a subject constant of psychiatry and is a challenge that particularly faces nurses working in acute inpatient settings. While other approaches to psychiatric treatment have been discarded (e.g. punishment, blood letting, trepanation, deep insulin therapy and so on) or evolved into new treatments (the use of medication), the act of physical restraint has remained largely unmodified. Given the ubiquity of physical restraint in psychiatry, particularly as a nursing procedure, the absence of a sustained body of research is notable. This essay examines some of the historical underpinnings of the use of restraint in psychiatry brought into sharp focus by the David Bennett Inquiry Report (2003) and the National Institute of Clinical Effective (NICE) guidelines (2005) on the management of violence.