A mentally ill person is defined in the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) as a “person suffering from mental illness and, owing to that illness, there are reasonable grounds for believing that care and treatment of the person is necessary for the person’s own protection from serious harm, or for the protection of others from serious harm”. Under the Act, mental illness means a condition that seriously impairs, either temporarily or permanently, the mental functioning of a person. They may experience delusions, hallucinations, serious disorder of thought form, a severe disturbance of mood or sustained or repeated irrational behaviour indicating the presence of any one or more of the symptoms already listed.
