From clinician to client: the lived experience of mental illness

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.