[WikiEN-l] Re: "Mental Health Service Consumer" Trolls

Wed Oct 15 04:37:08 UTC 2003

Alex756 wrote:

>This organization is a good place to start understanding
>what "mental health service consumers" or just "mental
>health consumers" (the terms used by most individuals
>who are or should be under some kind of treatment)
>have to deal with on a daily basis:
>http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=Living_With

That's the term that's used by most of us now?
I had no idea that the consumerification of society
had proceeded to such a degree!

Since I use psychiatric counseling and prescriptions for medication,
technically I must agree that I am a "mental health service consumer".
I don't see how I could be a "mental health consumer", however.
But in any case, I don't generally identify myself with such terms.
More relevant, IMO, is that: firstly, I have a mental illness
(even more relevant is which one I have, since they vary greatly);
and, secondly, that in my case it is well treated.
Only in relatively specialised contexts does it become relevant
that I receive services in order to obtain this treatment
(although that would be a reasonable guess).

-- Toby