Behind closed doors
Nowadays mental health professionals have to be very careful and mindful of their opinions in regard to mental health struggles when they speak on public. Mental health issues have become a very sensitive and political topic to discuss. A particular language have been developed by mental health professionals in order to be inclusive and non-judgmental towards people who struggle. It has become absolutely inappropriate to challenge current psychiatric trends in mental health system to the point of mental health professionals being afraid to lose their jobs when they voice their disagreements. Moreover, the dominant psychiatric model has taken over the mental health system and a lot of mental health professionals blindly believe in this approach to be the only one as they receive an intense amount of training around that and never question its effectiveness.
We live in times of mental health pandemic and addictions crisis. Yet, we continue running in a wheel of medicating people rather than pausing and challenging the current system that is based on a psychiatric approach. Mental health professionals pathologize natural human reactions to external stressors and are trying to find a pill to almost any problem. Diagnosis are being given out easily after superficial assessments and without thorough explanations what they mean. People who suffer do not even think to question professionals’ opinions. They find a relief in knowing that their struggle has a name, yet just that does not take them anywhere. What we see nowadays is that the number of people diagnosed with mental health issues is increasing drastically. And barely anyone seem to care enough to demand that mental health professionals do something about it.
The movement to remove stigma around mental health has succeeded in a way that individuals no longer shy away from discussing their struggles and sharing it with others, sometimes even strangers. Individuals with diagnosis gravitate to those with same experiences and feel that they are not the only ones dealing with struggles. Peer support groups have been established and it is very common that those with “lived experiences” volunteer to facilitate them. It is normalized nowadays that everyone mentions their mental health diagnosis; moreover, it has become very common to utilize mental health diagnosis as an evidence to human disability. Mental health professionals are dealing with the flood of patients who believe that their struggles in life make them unable to fulfill their life responsibilities. We see terrifying trends, yet keep believing that the current system does everything it can to support those who struggle. But does it though?
I have worked in the mental health system for quite few years. I have sat through psychological and psychiatric assessments. I have worked closely with nurse practitioners, medical doctors, clinical psychologists, and any sort of mental health professionals. Some of them blindly belief in psychiatric model and medicating emotions; others agree that those methods are way far away from being effective. In systems meetings at the table with various mental health professionals when it comes to helping clients with complex needs, there are always discussions around assessments and finding the right medication. At psychiatric consultations that last on average 15-30 minutes, medication is being discussed as the first option when it comes to treating symptoms of more complex problems. Humans are so used to this scenario, that it becomes even hard to challenge that and convince them that there are other natural ways. However, the most important, that every struggle that gets a psychiatric label, has a psychological nature and cannot be medicated but needs to be addressed by an individual. Mental health professionals do not inquire much about clients’ lives, support system and resources that they have to help them live meaningful lives. Mental health professionals usually blame the government for not funding resources enough as the way to explain why individuals struggle. Mental health professionals have hard facing the truth and being honest about ineffectiveness of conventional approaches to human struggles. Nothing works, yet there is lack of efforts to find solutions.
In my experience, when meetings are over and professionals feel safe with each other, they roll their eyes when they discuss diagnosis and how individuals are trying to use them as an excuse. Behind closed doors mental health professionals critique the system, the methods, and approaches. They strongly believe that the system is broken, rotten and superficial. They do believe that people are stronger and more resilient than they are, yet the system makes them believe that they are disabled. Mental health professionals are lost, annoyed and devastated. Yet, they do not have courage to speak up because that may cost them their job.
To all the mental health professionals out there: we can only fight this mental health pandemic and addictions crisis together by challenging conventional ways and changing the way we treat and approach mental health issues.
