Fighting the Stigma: the New Portuguese Mental Health Law
Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: : In August 2023, a new Mental Health Law (Law no. 35/2023, of 21 July) came into force in the Portuguese legal system. This new law is part of several legal reforms aiming to align the Portuguese legal order with the main international principles and guidelines concerning the support of persons with disabilities, in need of additional care or facing a situation of vulnerability (inter alia, the principles emanating from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities). This paper focuses on the opportunity for a new law in the Portuguese system concerning mental health policies and explores how some fundamental guidelines are reflected in the new diploma. On the other hand, after an excursus on non-discriminatory vocabulary and other novelties brought by the law, the new figure of the “person of trust” is analysed as a means of supporting the exercise of rights as well as the special management of affairs applicable when a person in need of mental health care is not benefiting from a judicial measure.
Author: Marta Monterroso Rosas
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7151110501