Costa Rica’s Mental Health Bill a Step Back for Human Rights

By Human Rights Watch

Click to expand Image A plenary session in the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly in San José, September 28, 2021. © 2021 Asamblea Legislativa de la Republica de Costa Rica via Wikimedia Commons Last week, Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly passed a troublesome bill to create a National Act on Mental Health. The bill follows an outdated biomedical model to treat people who might be experiencing a mental health crisis or have mental health conditions, also known as psychosocial disabilities. The bill is modeled on an old mental health treatment paradigm based on medication and inpatient nonconsensual…

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