Tangata whaiora/consumers perspectives on current psychiatric classification systems

BACKGROUND: A number of studies have been undertaken with the aim of considering the utility of mental health classification systems from the perspective of a variety of stakeholders. There is a lack of research on how useful consumers/tangata whaiora think these are in assisting them in their recovery. METHODS: Seventy service users were involved in seven focus groups in order to consider this question. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: While for clinicians diagnosing someone might be a discrete event and easily forgotten as a moment in a busy schedule, most people in this study remembered the occasion and aftermath very clearly. The overall consensus was that whether being 'diagnosed' was helpful or not, in large part, depended on how the process happened and what resulted from being 'labeled' in the person's life. CONCLUSION: Overall, people thought that in terms of their recovery, the classification systems were tools and their utility depended on how they were used. They suggested that whatever tool was used it needed to help them make sense of their distress and provide them with a variety of supports, not just medication, to assist them to live lives that were meaningful to them.