Control and restraint: Changing Thinking, Practice and Policy

Abstract

The term control and restrain (C&R) has been in common use in mental health practice for the past 20 years. This article explores the appropriateness of its continued use, drawing briefly on frame theory -- a subtype of discourse analysis. The authors conclude that, apart from a brief period in the 1980s, when the prison service oversaw training in physical interventions in the NHS, there has been confusion over the meaning of the term. Its continued use reflects an attribution whereby the primary source of violence prevention. However, any change in language must be accompanied by a shift in thinking and practice. The article puts forward a rationale for stopping the use of the term and calls for a radical change and the adoption of restraint reduction as a policy objective.