Treatnebt if Addiction - Clinical and Judicial Perspectives: Two Case Reports

Abstract

The sporadic or chronic use of drugs and alcohol is directly related to conduct disorders and to the triggering of psychopathological states of sub-acute or chronic course. The excessive consumption of alcohol and excessive traffic/consumption of illicit drugs by individuals without mental illness or disability are actions of free will; they are therefore criminally responsible for their behaviour, even if they commit a crime during the state of intoxication, which the individual chose voluntarily to experience. In clinical practice, it is widely accepted that the treatment of these disorders is only effective when the patient accepts it voluntarily and that involuntary commitment (compulsive treatment) is only carried out when the psychopathological state associated justifies the presuppositions of Article 12 of the Mental Health Law. However, if the compulsive treatment is of a penal character, mandated by a judge, the individual is obligated to accept treatment, independent of whether or not he suffers from mental illness. The authors present two case studies, one of drug addiction, the other of alcoholism, and discuss the clinical and judicial perspectives on the treatment of these clinical entities.