Trapped in a Cycle
Why the mental health system fails people
There is a kind of cycle that unfolds for people who are diagnosed with mental illnesses in the UK. They continually go in and out of hospital. This is almost always the case. In this article, I would like to explain my understanding of why this happens, with the hope that it will help others to understand some of the ways in which the mental health system fails and could be reformed.
There is usually some truth in a mental health diagnosis in that it describes certain experiences that a person has. The mistake is seeing these experiences as expressions of a faulty brain. Our experiences generally happen for reasons that can be understood through conversation and genuine love and attention. The materialistic approach to helping people in psychological distress fails, and this is evidenced by extremely poor ‘recovery’ rates and the number of people people admitted to psychiatric hospitals increasing all the time.
Everyone experiences highs and lows and has an imagination. In some people, the highs and lows can be more pronounced, and the mental experiences more troubling. It is often the case that people who experience these kinds of states are isolated, which is partly due to a lack of healthy relationships in their families, who may have neglected to show them love, care, and attention for a long period of time. It is also the case that social problems, such as the over-prevalence of technology and the stresses of living away from nature can contribute significantly to poor mental health.
The solution to every so-called mental illness is to address the lack of love someone is experiencing. This can always be remedied by showing them true compassion. For example, if someone is feeling paranoid, a conversation about the reasons why they are paranoid with a person who is non-judgmental and understands healing can often solve the problem. This seems so obvious, yet the brain disorder approach to mental healthcare prevents these kinds of conversations that would be truly healing from happening.
Often, what someone needs to be told in order to be mentally healthy is that they are okay and safe and they are not going to be forced to take medication - that they are loved and appreciated exactly the way they are - that they are in no danger and they are not a danger. The opposite is what generally happens in the mental health system.
When someone is ‘relapsing’ it is usually simply a sign that they have been neglected or treated unkindly or unfairly to the extent that it is causing them distress. While a psychiatrist may characterise their anger as a pattern in their behaviour - symptomatic of their ‘brain disorder’ - the reality is that they are trapped in a system which is treating them badly again and again and is causing that anger. The problem is a flawed medical model, not a flaw in the person.
The fear of an admission to hospital can make a person more agitated, because they know they will be forced to take medication and treated in a dehumanising way if they do end up in hospital. Yet this anger, which is perfectly reasonable and understandable, is characterised as a sign of relapse. This is how admissions become a vicious cycle. The real problem is a lack of true empathy and willingness to show love, care, and attention to people when they are distressed, rather than seeing them as dangerous and disordered. Only true kindness can break the cycle.
One thing that would really help this state of affairs is a counselling first approach to mental health care. If there were opportunities to talk with counsellors that were free of charge and readily available in society, this would go a long way to helping people in need. If we dispensed with the brain disorder myth and began to see every person with a mental health diagnosis as a fundamentally healthy person who is distressed for various reasons, then an approach to true healing would be possible, alleviating the burden on the health system and leading to more healthy and vibrant society.