Summary: The Use Of Physical Restraints In Mental Health

During the 17th and early 18th centuries, physical restraints were deemed a necessary and acceptable feature of refuge life (RCP 2009) (Fig. 1). Early physicians had considered psychiatric illness as “the loss of reason” and many supported the use of physical restraints to aid violent patients reclaim their “reason” (Iversen 2009). Therefore proving that the use of physical restraints in mental health is not an original tactic to managing disruptive behaviors, but this method has historically been troubled with ethical concerns. The use of physical restraints today, is still a shared practice (with a frequency of 33–68%) in several mental health settings (Goethals, Casterle, & Gastmans, 2012). The overall assumption of physical restraints is that their usage can ultimately be reduced and/or …show more content…
Prior to that job, I never viewed physical restraints in a negative manner. The same can be said for my positive outlook on physical restraint usage as well, because I had very little knowledge and experience with those restraints. The first time that I actually had to implement a physical restraint on a patient, I believed that it was my last resort. The patient was completely irate, and personally felt like well-being of himself, other patients, the staff, and myself was in jeopardy. We had unsuccessfully attempted alternative methods of sedating and/or calming down the patient. Along with the assistance of male tech, we were able to subdue the patient and detain him to his bed. After some backlash, we were able to calm the patient down and actually spent less than an hour physically restrained to his bed. My experience shows that in the right circumstances, that a physical restraint is not only be a viable last resort alternative with positive outcomes for the patient, but also a self-advocated treatment selection in life-threatening