england-and-wales legal-terms definition mental-health
Is a mental health crisis defined anywhere in the Mental Health Acts?
<p>Does the state of mental health crisis have any statutory definition provided by the Mental Health Act 1983 or any other piece of legislation in the UK?</p>

<p><strong>No</strong></p>
<p>The term &quot;mental health crisis&quot; is often used colloquially but it has no legal definition that I can find. In fact, the word  &quot;crisis&quot; does not appear at all in:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/7-8/72/contents" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mental Health Act 1959</a>, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/contents" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mental Health Act 1983</a>, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/9/contents" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mental Capacity Act 2005</a>, or the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/8/contents" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mental Health (Discrimination) Act 2013</a>.</p>
<p>The 1983 Act, being the primary legislation in this area, uses &quot;mental disorder&quot; which it defines at <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/1?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 1</a> as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>...any disorder or disability of the mind</p>
</blockquote>
