Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Thinking differently about mental health

I’ve changed the name of this blog before (see eg. previous post). I’m not convinced it’s really made much impact in terms of attracting more readers (see eg. another previous post). I’m making another attempt to see if expressing what this blog is about in more everyday langauage, avoiding the use of the term ‘psychiatry’, makes a difference. As mentioned in another previous post, ‘mental health’ has come to mean the conditions and practices that maintain mental health. There is general acceptance that mental health needs to be rethought (see eg. yet another previous post).

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1 comment:

Eric W Setz said...

Thinking differently about mental health.

For a while I have noticed you struggle to find a title for your blog. I do not have one for you but rather I recommend another approach. Lets identify what your message is and then maybe the name will be obvious. I submit the following as a draft. Please feel free to edit or consult others to its content. It should be viewed as an aspirational document.

Tenets of …….. ( fill in blank with blog name )

1 Do no harm.

2 Psychiatry should be evidence based.

3 Psychiatry should be scientific. By this I mean that it should follow the Scientific method and that evidence should be followed even if it does not agree with preconceived ideas. If humans were not willing to question their preconceived ideas, we would still be living on a flat earth at the centre of the universe worshipping the Sun, Moon and River gods.

4 Psychiatrists must recognize that a patient who has recovered has an insight to that process which they don’t. Further patterns identified in recovery should not only be used as treatment models but also as a basis for research. Specifically Harding’s and others longitudinal studies.

5 Therapy should be relationship based, encompassing the adage the more severe the disorder the lighter the touch and the concept that it is our reaction that defines us not what happens to us. This is what makes therapy possible as while we cannot change the past we can change our reaction to it. Also giving the patient a more rational rationalisation is no help as it is still a rationalisation.

6 Humility over hubris please.


I tender this as a starting point for debate. I hope it proves useful.

Eric Setz



9 October 2024 at 01:09

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