For years, people in Germany who act like they are radical antipsychiatry activists have said that in this country psychiatric violent (forced) treatment has been forbidden. Unfortunately, this is not true.
The cause of the confusion is that different judgments of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, which, in individual cases, denied psychiatrists the right to use violent treatment because of its substantial violation of the patient’s fundamental right to life and physical integrity. The court called this long-time practice illegal and demanded a new legal basis. In addition, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities forbids legal discrimination against people with disabilities (including psychiatric diagnoses). Just like people without psychiatric diagnoses, they have the right to refuse unwanted medical interventions.
