With the increasing number of mental health cases, people are advised to provide support to their affected loved ones. That assists in helping the patients to commit to a treatment plan suitable for them. However, what happens when a person with a deteriorating mental health issue blatantly refuses assistance and becomes a danger to himself and society?
If you are in Florida, the law allows you to force such individuals to seek immediate professional care from specialists. The Florida Baker Act enables law enforcers, doctors, judges, and medical health practitioners to detain individuals to a mental health treatment facility for at least 72 hours if they display suicidal or violent symptoms of mental illness.
While at the Baker Act Treatment Center Florida the individual will undergo a mental evaluation in order to de-escalate the crisis. The assessment will reveal if the individual has a mental health issue and the willingness not to be a danger to others. Typically, they’ll be released after 72 hours, the recommended holding period. Here are the accepted grounds for using the Baker Act in Florida.
Hallucinations
When someone begins seeing invisible things and hearing voices, that suggests they hallucinate. When these hallucinations start to point to self-harm or harm to others, then it becomes a suitable ground for Baker Acting the individual. Remember, if the hallucinations are ignored, the patient will likely cause harm, leading to loss of lives.
Suicidal Thoughts
We are all aware that mental health illnesses are a significant cause of increasing suicide cases. When the patients fail to get the much-needed help, they can proceed to take their lives. Whenever your loved one begins to voice their suicidal thoughts petition the Baker Act. That will prevent them from acting on suicidal thoughts.
Inability to Care for Themselves
When mental health patients are incapable of caring for themselves, their lives become firmly fixed on the path to destruction. If you see a decline in caring for their basic needs such as eating, taking medication, sleeping, or keeping their environment clean, then it is time to file the Baker Act. This decline proves the need to conduct a mental health evaluation on your loved one.
Substance Abuse
Although you need the Marchman Act for people dealing with substance abuse, you might be limited if the individual uses excessive illicit substances. So, they might not be sober for an intervention. In such a case, you will need the Baker Act. While in the mental health facility, your loved one can undergo a Medically Supervised Detox. After 72 hours of the detoxification program, they can be sober to participate in an intervention.
Hopelessness and Depression
When an individual has mood disorders such as depression, it will result in the inability to function effectively on a daily basis or hopelessness. These symptoms indicate that your loved one requires immediate treatment. You can petition the Baker Act for them to get a professional evaluation and care for 72 hours.