So, I'm into my fourth week at uni and thus far, haven't really had anything at all to blog about. We're doing three modules this term -- Anatomy & Physiology, Introduction to MH Nursing, and Inequalities in Health & Social Care. I'm LOVING Inequalities, which is essentially Sociology, and am very much looking forward to using feminism in my assignment for the module (a dream come true!). A&P I find quite boring, but also the most work, so I'm making an effort to actually try to make extra notes and understand it all, even though most of the time it feels slightly irrelevant to MH nursing. The actual MH module we're studying has felt like a rehash of my old counselling courses -- a lot about self-awareness and taking a person-centred approach -- and training for my job -- the importance of autonomy and the like -- and I'll be honest: I've been finding it all pretty underwhelming. I've not actually thought, "Oh god, I've made a mistake", but I have been wondering when the excitement would kick in. When I'd be reminded of exactly why I decided to take this path. When I'd feel the flare that engulfed me through applying and telling people about my aspirations.
One of the main things I'd worried about when applying for the course was the medicalised approach of the NHS and the general role of psychiatrists -- a former tutor had warned about feeling like a minion and simply doling out medication (maybe a naive, uninformed view, but perhaps not one all that out of date). Whilst I'm not exactly anti-psychiatry, I'm highly critical of it and I've spent much of the past five or six years reading the likes of Richard P Bentall and Ethan Watters who crusade against psychiatry in its current form, fighting for a more holistic approach. My main interest since I was sixteen has lay in psychotherapy, and that in itself has erred me away from an overly biological view of mental illness. Or, indeed, a biological approach at all. I suppose you could sum up my approach as an interest in people instead of disorders, and I'd had reservations that, despite best intentions, this would be at odds with the training I was to receive. I'm glad to report that I seem to be wrong!
Today we had a lecture on Recovery, and it was music to my ears. It felt like my entire belief system with regards to mental health was condensed into a three hour session. Statements from my lecturer to the effect of "The diagnosis isn't important, it's how people feel about their symptoms" echoed Bentall's complaints-based approach, and made me swell inside with excitement. And the idea that psychiatry is holding us back from treating mental health problems in a holistic, caring approach was brought up, too! I couldn't believe it. Today was the first time in the better part of a year that I really remembered why I want to be a mental health nurse, and I hope it lasts. I also hope my placements reflect this approach -- I find out in around three weeks where my first placement will be, starting in January. I'm ready! I'm excited! I'm going to change the world! Too far? Too far.
Time to abuse my access to journals and engross myself in recovery papers...
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