What is mental health? The power of evidence and the privilege of medicine

When I say medicine I mean the medical field, not just pills. I mean what comes with being a doctor: the responsibility as well as the respect.

Doctors occupy a special place in society and in daily life. They are one of the highest regarded of all people in any society. They heal. They keep people alive. They get rid of pain and illness.

They also have privileges which come about because of this as well as professional standards to meet. They're not to be fired upon in a war. Medical vehicles bare a bright red cross to demarque them from military vehicles.

Doctors kill every day. Some of these deaths are avoidable. In a very small percentage the doctor actively plays a part in the patient's death but this is rarely acknowledge. Many acts of mercy happen as well as a few outright murders.

Oh...shit....sorry...I'm meant to be talking about the privilege which comes with being a member of the medical profession, not the stuff I've learned from doctors about the profession. I know a few as friends and family.

Their professional status comes with an expectation. The expectation is the thing I'm trying to explain is something which is really important when it comes to doctors presiding over mental health.

In a way I've failed in this discourse because I've not mentioned the idea that mental illness doesn't have to be an illness. I've aluded to it not being an illness implicitly but I've not yet taken the step to say the things described as mental illness may never have needed the paradigm of medicine and illness to be applied.

I'm skipping on too quickly when I chose to raise the question of the privilege and the effects which come from it being under the purview of the medical profession.

So let me make my point badly then catch up later. Making mental health something which falls under the purview of doctors and what their profession means to people may have had some ill effects.

I've failed again because I've brought openmindedness about the construct of mental illness without bringing in a concept which rapidly perjoratises it, at least explictly I haven't.

What I mean is I've barely begun to begin colouring mental health as a bad thing rather than a good thing.

This is all necessary to lend weight to the argument about the medicalisation problem as a priority to be resolved.

So let me take a somewhat drunkard's stumble to the crux rather than the failings of this current piece. Let me get started on my next bottle of wine then I'll see if I can make the point about the danger of medicalisation before I ramble on about the dogma of truth replaced by evidence. Oh...god's word used to be the dogma of truth in the system which used to govern mental health before psychiatry. Damn. Another thing I've missed out.

Bear with me while I tak a little break.

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