Background:

Restraint as a therapeutic technique has been controversial over time. It is currently limited to emergency situations involving risk to the patient’s life or third parties.

Objective:

To know therapeutic techniques for restraining the person, review their side effects, and promote good practice.

Methodology:

Literature review related to the containment of people. Interpretative analysis of information gathered from documents, articles, books, and laws, using Gadamer’s hermeneutics.

Results:

We reflected on restraint use for containing patients as a therapeutic measure over time. We investigated the ethical aspects and examined the legislative framework in depth. The implications that this practice may have for health personnel were analyzed.

Conclusion:

It is necessary to promote comfort care measures that mitigate and limit the use of restraint in the person with behavioral disorders and/or special needs, thus guaranteeing their rights and dignity.

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