In Germany, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been accepted and recognised as applicable. This marks a turning point in the way this country and society views people with mental disorders.
Psychotics now have the possibility of refusing medical treatment, although mentally ill people cannot refuse internment. However, the German Parliament sees this as a step forward: it is still possible to lock up dangerous individuals, and the monitoring of those who refuse medication is ultimately only a form of guardianship.
The German Constitutional Court had ruled, in a judgment dating back several decades, that differentiation in the offers made to the mentally ill and the somatic sick was not compatible with human dignity.
There is a tendency in Germany to distinguish between individuals with somatic disorders or illnesses and individuals with mental illnesses.
The result of this particular conception of mental illness in Germany is the somatic approach of psychiatry, which leads logically to a treatment of mental disorders and pathologies with a psychosomatic approach.
In this approach, prevention and early diagnosis are favoured. The treatments and accompaniment, on the other hand, are generally based on natural methods, relying on the mind/body link.
