Recovery From Schizophrenia: Psychiatry And Political Economy

TREATMENT 287Table 12.2 Facts about Mental Illness A course for people with mental illness.their familymembers and friends* Each class runs for 90 minutes.CONSUMER GROUPSMany observers would argue that one of the most important developments inpsychiatry in the past 30 years has been the growth of organizations of relatives ofpeople with serious mental illness. In the US the National Alliance for theMentally Ill has lobbied for improvements in services for people with mentalillness, influencing decisions to direct public mental health funding to the mostseriously disturbed and to focus research efforts on schizophrenia. Media reports ofthe mentally ill have changed in response to a drive by the Alliance to reducestigma and to establish a new openness about psychiatric illness. In Britain theNational Schizophrenia Fellowship, established a few years earlier than itsAmerican counterpart, has been similarly active in providing emotional supportfor its members, lobbying for needed services, fostering public education andsponsoring research. Its publications have covered such topics as inadequateservices, mental health law and the importance of work for the mentallydisabled. 48 In Australia, SANE has mounted a strong countrywide anti-stigmacampaign and is closely involved in the shaping of mental health policy.There has also been growth in the organization of direct or primary consumersof mental health services in recent decades. The consumer (or service-user)movement, while gaining prominence in many parts of the world, is somewhatfragmented. A listing of some of the important service-user organizations inBritain illustrates both the growing strength and the lack of cohesion of the