Necessity of adapting psychiatric treatment to relevant ethical guidelines

In this article the author investigates to what extent most psychiatric professionals act according to international and national psychiatric ethical guidelines. It seems that many psychiatrists and psychotherapists do not know the international and national ethical guidelines for psychiatric conduct, and as a consequence they frequently do not act according to these ethical codes. The problem is that ignoring of ethical guidelines often does not have legal consequences, because these psychiatric ethical codes are not specifically enshrined in the law. I have discussed how we can improve relevant psychiatric ethical knowledge and related more responsible behavior in psychiatric staff members. Suggestions are made to improve psychiatric treatment in the light of ethical guidelines.