The Mental Health system and psychiatry can do so much more to help sufferers of mental illness and people with mental health conditions now.
Giving real hope means changing systems so they better meet the needs of the community, including addressing stigma and discrimination we have created.
Recovery, returning to work and taking back normal lives after illness is not always possible for sufferers of mental illness and people with mental health conditions. Mental health conditions are surrounded by doubt and misinformation. Sufferers face constant discrimination by their own community, due to rejection, abandonment and disadvantage. What does return to work look like for someone who is no longer welcome in their career for having had a nervous breakdown? They may no longer have a workplace to return to.
Current mental health services and systems are geared towards enforcing lifelong diagnoses which never give sufferers back the hope they can rebuild their lives.
At some stage we must allow persons with mental illness diagnosis credit for their own choices and recovery and recognise recovery formally.
Recovery needs to be a final destination, legally and medically, not a glamorous two step of delusion.
The reforms of ensuring ;
1. goal oriented services
2. compulsory medication reviews
3. compulsory use of combined treatments
4. abandonment of lifelong drug therapies and
5. limited application of diagnoses,
will help address stigma and return hope to sufferers of mental health problems.
Please include these reforms in all planning and policy development for a better future for all in recovery from mental illness.