Psychiatrikē = Psychiatriki
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The use of physical and mechanical restraints in mental health services in Greece arise many ethical and practical issues. The justification of the use of such procedures is rather controversial and subjective to scientific debate. The practice of restraint puts both patients and staff at risk for injury and death. ⋯ Further to the clear public, medical and operational concerns for the restraints, these procedures are expensive for the mental health services. In our study we estimated the costs of the procedures per patient, excluding the medication costs. According to our data each mechanical restraint costs at least € 57.28 and each seclusion € 47.16 respectively for up to 2 hours of duration and increase according to the prolongation of the restraint procedures.