Mental health reforms could see some people with personality disorders locked up unnecessarily, campaigners have warned.
MPs are debating controversial revisions to mental health legislation in the Commons later.
Under the plans, some mentally ill people may be jailed if they are deemed a threat to society.
Campaign group Mind warned that Mental Health Bill was deeply flawed and could put patients off from seeking help.
Campaign group Mind warned that Mental Health Bill was deeply flawed and could put patients off from seeking help.
Under the proposed laws some psychiatric patients discharged from hospital will be subject to community treatment orders (CTOs) which make care and treatment compulsory.
Those undergoing supervised community treatment will have to comply with a specified regime which campaigners say will place unnecessary restrictions on their civil liberties.
Sophie Corlett, Mind policy director, said: "The claim that supervised community treatment will help people get the treatment they need is, at best, misleading.
"People are routinely turned away from over-stretched mental health services, even when they're desperately seeking help, and no amount of legislation will change this.
"Only if the Government invested properly in mental health - in assertive outreach teams, in psychotherapists, in inpatient care, and in anti-stigma campaigns, everything that experts say is essential - might we expect people to get the help they need.
"Instead, they are ploughing ahead with a Mental Health Bill that will harm rather than help patients.
"By scaring the most vulnerable away from seeking help, this legislation risks endangering patients."
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