1. Understand the limits on your rights

Your legal rights as a psychiatric patient can be limited or can change in certain situations. Some of the most common situations when this happens are when:

• your doctor thinks you’re not able to make decisions about your own health care
• you or someone else is likely to get hurt because of your mental disorder
• you’re younger than 16 years

Which of your rights are limited or changed depends on your situation.

For example, if your doctor thinks you aren’t mentally capable of making decisions about your own health care, your right to get information about treatment options and your right to refuse treatment may be limited. In that situation, a substitute decision-maker will get the information and decide on a treatment plan for you.

Or, for example, if you’re younger than 16 years, your parents may have the right to decide whether you should be checked into a psychiatric facility. But you still have all of your other rights, including your right to privacy.