In 2005, the Mental Dignity Act was passed in the UK, giving patients a say in the choice of treatment given to them. Gareth Owen of King's College London and colleagues recently surveyed several hundred people hospitalised for mental illness.

As reported in the September issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, lack of consent to treatment was more common in patients forced to stay in hospital than those admitted at their own request. On the other hand, self-harm occurred mainly in the second group while the rate of acts of violence against others appeared not to depend on the mode of hospitalisation.