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Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality

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  • Claire Warrington

    (School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, Falmer BN1 9PH, UK)

Abstract

Most police Mental Health Act (Section 136) detentions in England and Wales relate to suicide prevention. Despite attempts to reduce detention rates, numbers have risen almost continually. Although Section 136 has been subject to much academic and public policy scrutiny, the topic of individuals being detained on multiple occasions remains under-researched and thus poorly understood. A mixed methods study combined six in-depth interviews with people who had experienced numerous suicidal crises and police intervention, with detailed police and mental health records. A national police survey provided wider context. Consultants with lived experience of complex mental health problems jointly analysed interviews. Repeated detention is a nationally recognised issue. In South East England, it almost exclusively relates to suicide or self-harm and accounts for a third of all detentions. Females are detained with the highest frequencies. The qualitative accounts revealed complex histories of unresolved trauma that had catastrophically damaged interviewee’s relational foundations, rendering them disenfranchised from services and consigned to relying on police intervention in repeated suicidal crises. A model is proposed that offers a way to conceptualise the phenomenon of repeated detention, highlighting that long-term solutions to sustain change are imperative, as reactive-only responses can perpetuate crisis cycles.

Suggested Citation

  • Claire Warrington, 2019. "Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-15, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:23:p:4786-:d:292154
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Roderic Pipe & Ashok Bhat & Barry Matthews & Judy Hampstead, 1991. "Section 136 and African/Afro-Caribbean Minorities," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 37(1), pages 14-23, March.
    2. Shiner, Michael & Scourfield, Jonathan & Fincham, Ben & Langer, Susanne, 2009. "When things fall apart: Gender and suicide across the life-course," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 738-746, September.
    3. Benson, Outi & Gibson, Susanne & Boden, Zoë V.R. & Owen, Gareth, 2016. "Exhausted without trust and inherent worth: A model of the suicide process based on experiential accounts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 126-134.
    4. Sulzer, Sandra H., 2015. "Does “difficult patient” status contribute to de facto demedicalization? The case of borderline personality disorder," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 82-89.
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    Cited by:

    1. Neptali M. Resurreccion, 2024. "Quality of Life and Resilience as Predictors of Mental Health among Police Officers," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(8), pages 4598-4646, August.

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