6Meaning of treatment

6 Meaning of treatment

(1)  For the purposes of this Act, treatment is the professional intervention necessary to –

(a) prevent or remedy mental illness; or

(b) manage and alleviate, where possible, the ill effects of mental illness; or

(c) reduce the risks that persons with mental illness may, on that account, pose to themselves or others; or

(d) [Section 6 Subsection (1) amended by No. 4 of 2023, s. 45, Applied:25 Sep 2023] assess a person's mental state.

(2)  However, this professional intervention does not extend to –

(a) special psychiatric treatment; or

(b) a termination of pregnancy; or

(c) a procedure that could render a person permanently infertile; or

(d) the removal, for transplantation, of human tissue that cannot thereafter be replaced by natural processes of growth or repair; or

(e) general health care.

(3)  [Section 6 Subsection (3) inserted by No. 59 of 2016, s. 6, Applied:01 Jul 2017] For the purposes of this Act, treatment does not include seclusion, chemical restraint, mechanical restraint or physical restraint.