Current mood:	thoughtful
Entry tags:	depression, psych, uni

Psychiatric services attitudes to mental health
There's a distinct difference between the British and American psychiatric professionals. On LJ you can clearly see who's British and who's American when talking about mental health.

In the US mental health problems are labelled as illnesses,much like a physical illness. American psych patients acquire copious numbers of psychiatric diagnostic labels, and in general Americans seem happier to diagnose eachother, in particular when it comes to bipolar disorder and ADHD/ADD, which are much less commonly diagnosed here. Americans are prescribed more psychiatric meds, and a distinct difference is they haven't phased out benzodiazepines yet (which have been nearly eradicated here due to their addictive nature and tendency to worsen some anxiety symptoms). They're also admitted to psychiatric wards more than here, like for example in the case of feeling suicidal or self-harming severely.
In general there's much less stigma concerning mental health issues in the USA. The advantages of their system is it's easier to get help if you do have a problem, and it's easier to deal with your problem because it's taken more seriously. The disadvantages are that people can become hooked on medications, and the labelling can make people feel hopeless that they can get better, especially if they have multiple labels.

Here in the UK professionals will avoid diagnosing you at all costs, to the extent that they'll continuously make you question if you've really got a problem at all "what do you mean when you refer to 'the depression' Josie??". You rarely hear a label from a psychiatric professional. It's never referred to as an illness, the phrase "mental illness" is pounced upon and questioned/eradicated; they don't want you to think you're ill, in fact they'd prefer you didn't think you had anything wrong with you. Medication is either very easy or very hard to get depending upon the professional you're dealing with. And admittance to psychiatric wards is rare, even in life-threatening circumstances. The attitude is generally that your problems are under your control, and that's it's not like an outside force.
In the UK i think the psychiatric services are very much affected by how underfunded the NHS is - they need to keep costs down by having as few sick people as possible, even if that means trying to persuade ill people that they're not as ill as they really are. The advantages of our system is we don't get bogged down by labels, less likely to be wrongly diagnosed and we're less likely to get hooked on medications. The disadvantages of our system is we find it hard to take our problems seriously because they're not treated like "illnesses", and that adds a huge element of blame and guilt.

Thoughts???
I'm curious where the Australian psychiatric care falls.

I've written all this because i'm feeling quite miffed with my own attitudes towards my depression, which i realise have been shaped by my contact with mental health professionals. Because i'm forced to continuously persuade people that i do have a problem with my mood i find it hard to take seriously myself, so i feel like it's all my fault. Right now i'm really angry with myself for not being at uni working and instead being "lazy" in bed. Logically i know that i wouldn't get much/any work done, and i really need a break because my limits are much smaller than 'normal' peoples and i'll cause myself to become suicidal if i do try.
There must be a balance. I need to do enough work to not feel like a failure, but not put myself under so much stress that i become seriously depressed.