Over the last years, little has changed in the real possibilities of treating mental disorders. However, in Italy today it is possible to close Judicial Psychiatric Hospitals, which means that somehow psychiatry has a new "task". The idea of controlling the patient with institutionalization has been substituted by the more modern - and apparently medical - idea of controlling the illness with medication. With proper medication, mental illness is under control and the patient is protected from the «negative consequences of mental suffering» (Criminal Appeal, no. 10795/2007). In this way, the risk is that there is no difference between treatment of mental illness and control of the person.
Keywords: Forensic hospitals, psychiatrist’s legal responsibility, reductionism, treatment, custody