“And now I know how you feel . . .”: Lived experience of surviving mental illness as a prosumer.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prama Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Know How

scholarly journals Storytelling, Safeguarding, Treatment, and Responsibility: attributes of recovery in psychiatric intensive care units

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 105-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karleen Gwinner ◽  
Louise Ward
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Psychiatric Distress ◽  
Nurse Knowledge

AbstractBackground and aimIn recent years, policy in Australia has endorsed recovery-oriented mental health services underpinned by the needs, rights and values of people with lived experience of mental illness. This paper critically reviews the idea of recovery as understood by nurses at the frontline of services for people experiencing acute psychiatric distress.MethodData gathered from focus groups held with nurses from two hospitals were used to ascertain their use of terminology, understanding of attributes and current practices that support recovery for people experiencing acute psychiatric distress. A review of literature further examined current nurse-based evidence and nurse knowledge of recovery approaches specific to psychiatric intensive care settings.ResultsFour defining attributes of recovery based on nurses’ perspectives are shared to identify and describe strategies that may help underpin recovery specific to psychiatric intensive care settings.ConclusionThe four attributes described in this paper provide a pragmatic framework with which nurses can reinforce their clinical decision-making and negotiate the dynamic and often incongruous challenges they experience to embed recovery-oriented culture in acute psychiatric settings.

scholarly journals Comunicación del personal de Enfermería con el paciente con patología psiquiátrica = Nursing staff communication with psychiatric pathology patient

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Zaraida Aviles Saez ◽  
Rosalía Cara Rodríguez ◽  
Luisa María López Trinidad
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Nursing Staff ◽  
Health Centers ◽  
Active Listening ◽  
Know How ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Fundamental Point ◽  
Nursing Professionals ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Training

Resumen: La comunicación con las personas diagnosticadas de patologías mentales es un punto fundamental para ayudar a conseguir su reinserción social. Enfermería es la figura que mantiene un contacto más estrecho con estos pacientes cuando se encuentran ingresados en centros sanitarios. El diálogo con estos pacientes es sumamente complejo, lo que hace necesario realizar investigaciones y formación que aborden la mejor forma de relacionarnos con ellos. Este estudio tiene por objetivo demostrar la im­portancia que tiene la comunicación con el paciente psiquiátrico respecto a la relación con el personal de Enfermería y su evolución. Los resultados muestran que los profesionales y estudiantes de Enfermería necesitan formación específica para saber cómo enfrentar un diálogo con personas con enfermedades mentales. La escucha activa, el idioma, la comunicación no verbal y la cercanía en la relación son claves para una comunicación efectiva.Palabras clave: Comunicación; enfermedad mental; Enfermería; relación.Abstract: Communication with people diagnosed with mental pathologies is a fundamental point to help achieve their social reintegration. Nursing is the figure that maintains a closer contact with these patients when they are admitted to health centers. The dialogue with these patients is extremely complex, which makes it necessary to conduct research and training that addresses the best way to relate to them. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance of communication with the psychiatric patient regarding the relationship with the nursing staff and their evolution. The results show that nursing professionals and students need specific training to know how to face a dialogue with people with mental illness. Active listening, language, non-verbal communication and closeness in the relationship are key to effective communication.Keywords: Communication; mental illness; nursing; relationship.

scholarly journals Reflections on a person's experience of mental illness: an innovative teaching pilot for second-year medical students

BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S8-S9
Author(s):  
George Blanchard ◽  
Louis Quail ◽  
Grace Yang ◽  
Katherine Terence ◽  
Amisha Kalra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Stigma Of Mental Illness ◽  
Students Attitudes

AimsWe sought to develop a teaching pilot to help year 2 medical students meet the following learning outcomes: Develop a better understanding of patient and carer experiences of mental illness; Recognise and challenge unhelpful attitudes towards people with mental illness; Promote a broader understanding of cultural issues surrounding mental illness, including stigma and discrimination.Method337 medical students were invited to attend a lecture by author LQ, a documentary photographer who presented a narrative of his brother Justin's lived experience of schizophrenia (louisquail.com/big-brother-introduction). 197 students attended the session, which was recorded and made available online. Students were invited to enter a competition to win a signed copy of LQ's book, ‘Big Brother’ and asked to submit either a 500-word written reflective piece, or a creative work accompanied by a 200-word statement. 13 submissions were received, including paintings, drawings, collage, photography, and poetry, all of which were blind rated by authors SR and GB, based on originality and quality of reflection. Of the six shortlisted, three winning entries were chosen by author LQ.ResultAll reflections moved away from a technical understanding of schizophrenia, towards person-centred interpretations, with dominant themes of ‘stigma’, ‘disempowerment’, ‘understanding people as individuals’, ‘subjective experience of mental illness’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘healing power of nature’.The three prize winners (authors GY, AK and KT) used different mediums: GY painted an osprey over a chaotic collage of disordered and stigmatizing words (the osprey representing empowerment and the “reservoir for wellbeing in nature”); AK's sonnet began as an ode to the chaos of Justin's experience, but the concluding lines reframed this struggle, conveying feelings of hope and beauty; and KT's self-portrait, produced with a slow shutter-speed photograph, powerfully conveyed a sense of disorientation and disturbance. She reflected on how the stigma of mental illness affects self-perception. The talk was well-attended, and reflections were of high quality. A limitation of this pilot was that only a small proportion of students completed the reflective assignment.ConclusionInnovative teaching strategies are needed to address negative attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry, which are prevalent amongst the medical profession. This pilot provides a model for combining carer-led, reflective, and creative elements in undergraduate psychiatry teaching, with the aim of challenging stigma. This model will be evaluated in a further study involving fifth year medical students, which will use a validated scale to measure change in students’ attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry.

Mental illness: The collision of meaning with mechanism

2020 ◽  
pp. 263-289
Author(s):  
Steven E. Hyman ◽  
Doug McConnell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Gene Regulation ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Clinical Encounter ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
And Function ◽  
Human Brains ◽  
The Brain

‘Mental illness: the collision of meaning with mechanism’ is based on the views of psychiatry that Steven Hyman articulated in his Loebel Lectures—mental illness results from the disordered functioning of the human brain and effective treatment repairs or mitigates those malfunctions. This view is not intended as reductionist as causes of mental illness and contributions to their repair may come from any source that affects the structure and function of the brain. These might include social interactions and other sources of lived experience, ideas (such as those learned in cognitive therapy), gene sequences and gene regulation, metabolic factors, drugs, electrodes, and so on. This, however, is not the whole story for psychiatry on Hyman’s view; interpersonal interactions between clinicians and patients, intuitively understood in such folk psychological terms as selfhood, intention, and agency are also critical for successful practice. As human beings who are suffering, patients seek to make sense of their lives and benefit from the empathy, respect, and a sense of being understood not only as the objects of a clinical encounter, but also as subjects. Hyman’s argument, however, is that the mechanisms by which human brains function and malfunction to produce the symptoms and impairments of mental illness are opaque to introspection and that the mechanistic understandings necessary for diagnosis and treatment are incommensurate with intuitive (folk psychological) human self-understanding. Thus, psychiatry does best when skillful clinicians switch between an objectifying medical and neurobiological stance and the interpersonal stance in which the clinician engages the patients as a subject. Attempts to integrate these incommensurate views of patients and their predicaments have historically produced incoherent explanations of psychopathology and have often led treatment astray. For example, privileging of folk psychological testimony, even when filtered through sophisticated theories has historically led psychiatry into intellectually blind and clinically ineffective cul-de-sacs such as psychoanalysis.

scholarly journals Loneliness and its Association with Health Behaviors in People with a Lived Experience of a Serious Mental Illness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen L. Fortuna ◽  
Joelle Ferron ◽  
Cynthia L. Bianco ◽  
Meghan M. Santos ◽  
Ashley Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Serious Mental Illness

scholarly journals Diagnostic Dissent: Experiences of Perceived Misdiagnosis and Stigma in Persons Diagnosed With Schizophrenia

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faith A. Forgione
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Life History ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Psychiatric Diagnosis ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Psychiatric Theory ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Insight Into

It is not uncommon for individuals to disagree with their psychiatric diagnosis. The experience of perceived misdiagnosis can be challenging for service users, as mainstream psychiatric theory often views this disagreement as an indication of “poor insight” into their putative illness. Some researchers have suggested that labeling a service user as lacking insight can be detrimental to the service user’s recovery. Regardless of whether a person agrees with his or her diagnosis, persons labeled with “mental illness” sometimes internalize the discrimination and stigma that they encounter. However, few studies have examined the lived experience of disagreeing with a diagnosis. The present study investigated the first-person experiences of three individuals who believed that they were misdiagnosed with a psychotic disorder. As part of a larger study, participants completed in-depth interviews about their life history and experiences in psychiatric hospitals. Data were analyzed using phenomenological methods. Participants felt that their clinicians assigned an erroneous and stigmatizing label that did not match their self-experience. Diagnostic dissent, a form of perceived misdiagnosis, was a way for individuals to assert their self-experience against perceived invalidation and stigmatizing labels.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study Exploring the Lived Experience of Unemployment Among People with Severe Mental Illness

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 435-444
Author(s):  
Reema Samuel ◽  
Abirame S. ◽  
K. S. Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Severe Mental Illness ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Bipolar Affective Disorder ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Role Expectations ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
Barriers To Employment

Background: Severe mental illnesses lead to deterioration in the life skills of the patient, resulting in socio-occupational dysfunction and low rates of employment. The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes, knowledge, and barriers to employment as experienced by patients and their caregivers in India. Method: Patients with schizophrenia or bipolar affective disorder, aged between 18 and 60 and undergoing inpatient treatment and their caregivers, were approached for written informed consent and recruited for focus group discussions. A total of eight focus groups were conducted until saturation of themes was seen to have been achieved. The data were transcribed, coded, synthesized, and organized into major findings and implications for practice. Results: Role expectations based on gender were seen to influence the decision to work. The possible recurrence of illness due to excess stress and unsupportive working environments was cited as the most common problem that could arise related to employment. Stigma and faulty attributions related to the illness were the most cited barriers to employment. Most participants felt that psychosocial rehabilitation and family and community support were essential for facilitating work. Most participants did not consider mental illness as a disability and were unaware of government schemes for the mentally ill. Conclusion: Considering gender-based role expectations, avenues for self/family employment and improving the awareness of benefits for mental illness both among consumers and health care professionals are essential to enhance economic productivity in people with severe mental illness.

scholarly journals Integrated mental health atlas of the Western Sydney Local Health District: gaps and recommendations

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Fernandez ◽  
James A. Gillespie ◽  
Jennifer Smith-Merry ◽  
Xiaoqi Feng ◽  
Thomas Astell-Burt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Adult Mental Health ◽  
Local Evidence ◽  
Integrated Mental Health

Objective Australian mental health care remains hospital centric and fragmented; it is riddled with gaps and does little to promote recovery. Reform must be built on better knowledge of the shape of existing services. Mental health atlases are an essential part of this knowledge base, enabling comparison with other regions and jurisdictions, but must be based on a rigorous classification of services. The main aim of this study is to create an integrated mental health atlas of the Western Sydney LHD in order to help decision makers to better plan informed by local evidence. Methods The standard classification system, namely the Description and Evaluation of Services and Directories in Europe for Long-term Care model, was used to describe and classify adult mental health services in the Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD). This information provided the foundation for accessibility maps and the analysis of the provision of care for people with a lived experience of mental illness in Western Sydney LHD. All this data was used to create the Integrated Mental Health Atlas of Western Sydney LHD. Results The atlas identified four major gaps in mental health care in Western Sydney LHD: (1) a lack of acute and sub-acute community residential care; (2) an absence of services providing acute day care and non-acute day care; (3) low availability of specific employment services for people with a lived experience of mental ill-health; and (4) a lack of comprehensive data on the availability of supported housing. Conclusions The integrated mental health atlas of the Western Sydney LHD provides a tool for evidence-informed planning and critical analysis of the pattern of adult mental health care. What is known about the topic? Several reports have highlighted that the Australian mental health system is hospital based and fragmented. However, this knowledge has had little effect on actually changing the system. What does this paper add? This paper provides a critical analysis of the pattern of adult mental health care provided within the boundaries of the Western Sydney LHD using a standard, internationally validated tool to describe and classify the services. This provides a good picture of the availability of adult mental health care at the local level that was hitherto lacking. What are the implications for practitioners? The data presented herein provide a better understanding of the context in which mental health practitioners work. Managers and planners of services providing care for people with a lived experience of mental illness can use the information herein for better planning informed by local evidence.

The unique contribution of older people with a lived experience of mental illness to the peer workforce: observations from older peer workers

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Dominiek Coates ◽  
Patrick Livermore ◽  
Raichel Green
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Older People ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Implementation Barriers ◽  
Work Model

Background: The development of peer work models that are integrated into health systems is at the heart of national and international reform agenda in mental health. Peer work differs from other mental health roles as it is provided by people who have a lived experience of mental illness and recovery and does not assume a medical model. Peer work in mental health services for older people is not well established and to address this gap we developed, implemented and evaluated a peer work model for older patients of a specialist mental health service.Method: The findings discussed in this paper are part of a broader evaluation and consist of qualitative observations made by the peer workers during focus groups. Three focus groups were conducted during the first year of the project to identify the peer workers’ perspectives, feelings and thoughts around the developing peer work model and how they were impacted by the work. Data collection and analysis was inductive and informed by grounded theory principles. Observations from peer workers are discussed in relation to the literature as well as observations made by the researchers during project implementation.Results: Analysis suggests that older peer workers have a level of maturity and experience with recovery that benefit the peer workforce in a number of ways namely (a) significant experience with recovery to draw on when helping others; (b) a well-established sense of identity and coping strategies that support wellbeing and (c) ability to cope with ambiguity and uncertainty inherent in peer work practice. We propose that having a strong sense of self or personal identity may be important in peer work, particularly as the peer work role is often challenged, questioned and unclear.Conclusion: Older peer workers provide a valuable contribution to the peer workforce and bring with them an array of strengths that can help overcome some of the common peer work implementation barriers.

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