On the Importance of Choice in Mental Health Care
The Poulstone Oak (where I did HB)
In the UK, we live in a social democracy.
This means that as a healthy society, we allow different world views and respects minority groups as far as possible.
Society members are respected as well as having legal human rights and we allow freedom of choice.
Somehow when it comes to mental health, this maturity in our society has been discarded.
Instead, we have coercive practices and a totalitarian focus on chemical treatment without respecting that many people do not want this.
Let us stop pretending.
Judicial and medical psychiatry aims to keep our streets safe and 'tidy' and possibly avoid unnecessary suicides.
Coercion will no doubt play a part in this, hopefully with as much compassion as possible.
Society needs to regularly reflect on what behaviour need be considered 'unacceptable' and where the boundaries of the service lie.
Therapeutic psychiatry if it is called this, is something altogether different.
It requires a healthy relationship with the individual being assisted. It must be built on trust not power and coercion and be guided by the patient not some authority.
Otherwise, you can't help them and will cause the person to suffer more.
How can the same person or service perform both the judicial and therapeutic role?
Someone might ask me: Anthony, why if you spent a night with a hydra you could see in front of you telling you to kill yourself with a knife, didn't you consider seeing a psychiatrist or at least your doctor for help?
It never crossed my mind.
That kind of sums up how I felt from getting help from my psychiatrist the first-time round. My doctor had nothing to offer me. I would rather sit with the hydra occasionally – there was more chance of me living my life.
When I felt it really came to a life and death decision, I chose Holotropic Breathwork™ to intentionally go into the non-ordinary states in a safe environment and face what I needed to face. For me it worked (alongside my other practices). For others there may be need for more support.
I don't want to be a dictator and say that chemical white pill treatments shouldn't be offered to people if they are clearly told how they work to heal the person (and its scientifically proven that they do so), what the side-effects are likely to be and how long they will likely need to be on them, with a clear supported path for safely coming off. Maybe for some it's the best bet.
But for myself, I wouldn't want this kind of treatment again and right now, we have a dictatorship in mental health care which seems to only offer this. In fact, it will use coercive force to ensure you go this way if you end up meeting the service in a vulnerable state.
What it meant for me was that I spent seven years on my 'HeartPath', going it alone, while going in and out of non-ordinary states. It was dangerous and not something I would recommend to others. But for me, there was no other choice…
It would be nice if this situation could change, so that others have a chance for genuine supported inner journey work without going through the risks I took.
I can envision essential services providing non-drug intensive 24hr support for short periods, short term intensive retreat type environments providing deep interventions, longer stay get away 'zen centre' environments in the countryside for quiet integration and day centre type environments and community spaces offering group therapies and emotional education in the long term. Some may be part of organised health care, some community care. The more human and less medical, the better.
What we generally call mental illness for me means many things.
It may take many forms from a messy archetypal individuation journey to the mind-body trying to free itself from or at least accommodate its trauma and emotional pain however this has come about.
In some cases, substance addiction may complicate things. In others specific life difficulties such as autism or sociopathic tendencies may require special attention.
At base it means a call for support to complete a natural journey because life needs a bit of help sometimes.
People are suffering. They need help to grow and heal. They need inspiration to heal themselves. To own and walk their own path beyond their suffering towards themselves in their greater form.
I don't believe this happens when you simply encourage people to pop a pill morning and evening.
The first psychiatrist I ever met was a really nice guy quietly doing his best to see the mental health service evolve. He shared his opinion that psychiatric treatment would change when society demanded it.
When society itself no longer wanted to believe in the magic pill, which required no reflection or responsibility taking on the part of the individual or the family or the wider society, no effort for the recovery journey and no 'patience eternal' from the individual and those trying to help them, which may at times be required.
What kind of help would you like for yourself if you found yourself in such difficulty or for those you love?
How can we see this come into being?
Note: The Oak Tree in the picture is in front of Poulstone Court retreat centre, near the River Wye where the editor participated in many life changing Holotropic Breathwork (TM) retreats. The tree itself appeared in one of my inner journeys. A symbol of other choices for psychiatric care.