title: From clinician to client: the lived experience of mental illness.
abstract: Psychiatric researchers and clinicians are quick to pay homage to the idea that mental illness has no respect for occupational attainments, social status, or academic degrees. Yet there is a considerable gap between accepting this idea solely on the basis of one's involvement in research or caregiving, versus first-hand experience. In this paper, the author delves into his own experience of mental illness in order to deepen clinicians' understanding of the personal meaning of facing such a condition on a daily basis. Special attention is paid to the persistence of obstacles to effective treatment and care, obstacles due not so much to financial constraints as to a lack of enlightenment among those charged with improving the lives of persons with mental illness.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96826-4906, USA. tolson@hawaii.edu
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Olson
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations