Inpatient psychiatric units are designed around the twin aims of treatment and containment, but emotional norms and tone also contribute to care environments.

Dr Jennifer T. McIntosh joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Dr Mona Shattell: “How Should Suicide Prevention and Healing Be Expressed as Goals of Inpatient Psychiatric Unit Design?”

This commentary examines prevention policies that overly rely on liberty restrictions imposed by designs of inpatient psychiatric units’ structures and spaces.

Patients’ vulnerabilities and conditions can be exacerbated when they feel bored.

Iatrogenic harms of so-called “zero-risk” approaches must be balanced against promoting patients’ goals of care.

Therapeutic security in inpatient psychiatric settings requires careful planning and implementation if it is to support both patients’ safety and dignity.

Inpatient psychiatric units should be therapeutic environments that support dignity and recovery.

Dr Allie Slemon joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Shivinder Dhari: “When Should Inpatient Psychiatric Care Include Access to the Outdoors, Despite Elopement or Other Risks?”

Dr Brendan D. Kelly joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Dr Róisín Plunkett: “Should Dignity Preservation Be a Precondition for Safety and a Design Priority for Healing in Inpatient Psychiatry Spaces?”

Dr Carrie Tamarelli joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Angela Cao and Dr Rebecca Grossman-Kahn: “Should Patients’ Boredom in Locked Inpatient Psychiatric Units Be Considered Iatrogenic Harm?”