10-point model for a mental health system that works

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 by: Mike Bundrant
Tags: mental health, failure, solutions

(NaturalNews) The mental health system in America is an embarrassing failure. Here is an outline of principles upon which a new one might be based. Did I miss anything? Add your ideas and constructive criticism in the comments, please.

1. Regulated by the people, not government

Who determined that government was an effective regulator of mental health? It was a triad of sorts, a collusion of pharmaceutical giants, the American Psychiatric Association and the FDA.

The entire process is documented in the history of psychiatry by well-known psychiatric reformer Peter Breggin, MD and other concerned activist organizations.

The point here is, government "regulation" has wreaked havoc on the nation's mental health, sponsoring the mass drugging of American citizens (including children), psych-ward torture chambers in which innocent people's brains have been shocked into oblivion, erasing decades of memory on some occasions.

Of course, incarceration in a mental hospital leaves some hapless victims open to kidnapping and Mafioso style medical experiments. No one can advocate for these lost souls and the government has been known to take advantage of that.

People - real, caring people - need to regulate mental health in America; people who want to make a career out of helping others and can use their resources and connections to find a way to do so. This would most likely take place on a small scale, through local organizations. Read more under point #10.

2. Decisions by people, not accountants

Do you think your agency mental health counselor is calling the shots in how he or she determines to treat you? Wrong. The vast majority of mental health professional sheeple in America determine both the quantity and type of treatment you are allowed to receive in conjunction with your insurance company.

How many sessions do you get? What kind of therapy can be used? Should you have a medication evaluation? (Yes, of course). The bean counters are the decision-makers. Your therapist is the bean counter's bitch. I lived in this nightmare scenario as a young mental health counselor, until I figured out what was going on.

A skilled counselor or other compassionate people helper should decide the type and length of treatment you get - ALONG WITH YOU.

3. Therapy by skilled, caring people, not licensed professional sheeple

Mental health counselors, psychiatrists and social workers these days are largely products of the sheep herding system. After getting an education, they are indoctrinated during an internship and required to pass state sponsored exams to make sure they fall in line.

The college education and state exams have NOTHING to do with real, therapeutic skill. You can get an M.A. or Ph.D. - passing with flying colors - and still have ZERO skill to help people.

People with skills - regardless of where those skills came from - should be allowed to intervene on behalf of other people who are suffering mentally or emotionally. We all know this intuitively. The current system has shunned all sense of reality.

4. Biochemistry by nutritionists and fitness trainers, not psychiatrists

Biochemistry should be regulated by diet and activity, not pharmaceuticals. Nutritionists and fitness experts should oversee the physical aspects of mental health. Get rid of the junk food and couch potato lifestyle. This works wonders on its own.

Get on supplements that regulate brain chemistry naturally. Get back in touch with nature. Exercise. Check your vitamin D level! A skilled functional nutritionist works healing miracles. Psychiatry doesn't. Psychiatry doesn't heal anything at all. Isn't this a clue?

5. People, not pathology

You should hear counselors and psychiatrists talking shop in the staff room over lunch.

"Yeah, I got a major depressive disorder coming in after lunch. Poor guy is hopeless."

"You should have seen the borderline I dealt with last week. I was actually scared of him."

"Yeah, but the social phobics are the worst - so friggin' paranoid. I told one to carry his sedative with him and put it under his tongue when he needs it, but he's afraid people will see him doing it. Nuts."

While there are certainly exceptions, some counselors do not see people as people, but as diagnoses. They look for pathology, see pathology and treat pathology. If your counselor does not see you as a person with potential, who will?

6. Freedom, not restriction

When someone is having a meltdown, it is often because they feel restricted, trapped, with no way out. The conventional solution is often to restrain them, lock them down and drug them up.

I have personally seen people jumped by psych techs, restrained and drugged, when they could have been easily talked down if given some space and access to a person who had real communication skills. The idea is to safely increase inner freedom and choice, not stifle it.

7. Truth treatment, not drug treatment

Nothing heals like the truth. Drugs do not heal at all. A mental health model based on taking responsibility for the truth in one's life may be all we need to live full, healthy lives. The enemy is denial.

The problem is, no one is in greater denial than those running mental health in America today. Drug therapy rules the day. Bean counters determine eligibility for treatment. State regulators determine what training practitioners need. And the professional sheeple follow along.

How can we even begin to help each other gain insight when the entire system is a mass of ignorance and repression?

8. Funded by people, not insurance

Beware of counselors who accept insurance as reimbursement. This is not always the case, but many of them are pathetically lacking in skill. Counselors with a lot of skill rarely accept insurance reimbursement. For one, insurance companies pay peanuts. For those peanuts, you have to put up with a mountain of paperwork and subject your practice to their control. Not worth it!

Counselors should get paid like any other professional in the free market. People will pay you if you are worth it! If you can't deliver results, you won't have a practice, AND YOU SHOULDN'T.

Insurance companies don't screen providers for skill. They screen them for credentials, state sponsored sheeple credentials. Get your paperwork done. Make medication referrals. Don't invite any lawsuits. All this has nothing to do with helping people. In fact, it takes a good counselor's energy away from helping people.

As a consequence, insurance providers are often those who cannot build a practice on their own merit and therefore must take referrals from the insurance company if they want to practice at all. These are usually the ones to avoid. This reality doesn't occur to most clients, who will usually just do what the customer service agent at the insurance company tells them to do.

If you have a hard time paying for good therapy, ask for a sliding scale. Many good practitioners offer this.

9. Choice, not control

The system doesn't seem to understand that even those suffering from mental health issues (as we all do) are capable of making choices for themselves. Who says people need to be coerced into drugs, confined and threatened into submission if they don't follow the rules as laid out by their psychiatrist?

People are remarkably resilient and capable of making choices in their own best interest, when given healthy options.

10. Respite houses, not hospitals

A mental health respite house would be a wonderful alternative to a hospital psych ward. I have some great ideas for how they might work. They would be private homes in normal neighborhoods, funded by private citizens, and offer a refuge from life, skilled counseling, functional nutrition, yoga, meditation and a variety of alternative therapies. They would be free or low cost. No drugs and diagnoses, just people helping people.

I actually have the means to create a respite house right now. I have skills to work with just about any mental or emotional issue. I count as friends some of the finest psychotherapists, alternative nutritionists, doctors and health freedom advocates in the world.

Why don't I march out and do this? I refer you back to point #1. Government regulations are unbelievable, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of red tape just open a group home or addiction treatment facility. Once you have it open, then you are subject to their regulators snooping into all of your operations, ready to fine you, imprison you or shut you down if you are out of line.

I am not the only one who is capable of starting a great safe house, of course. There could be one in every community, if a functional system were in place.

About the author:
Watch the free video The AHA! Process: An End to Self-Sabotage and discover the lost keys to personal transformation and emotional well-being that have been suppressed by mainstream mental health for decades.

The information in this video has been called the missing link in mental health and personal development. In a world full of shallow, quick-fix techniques, second rate psychology and pharmaceutical takeovers, real solutions have become nearly impossible to find. Click here to watch the presentation that will turn your world upside down.

Mike Bundrant is co-founder of the iNLP Center and host of Mental Health Exposed, a Natural News Radio program.

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