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‘I‐as‐We’ – Powerful boundaries within the field of mental health coproduction
Author(s) -
Peter Sebastian,
Schulz Gwen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.911
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1447-0349
pISSN - 1445-8330
DOI - 10.1111/inm.12469
Subject(s) - coproduction , mental health , existentialism , perspective (graphical) , ethnography , psychology , field (mathematics) , dimension (graph theory) , identity (music) , representation (politics) , health professionals , social psychology , sociology , epistemology , health care , psychotherapist , political science , aesthetics , social science , computer science , philosophy , mathematics , artificial intelligence , politics , anthropology , pure mathematics , law
To date, there is little research on personal crisis experiences of mental health professionals. The aim of this study was to explore some of the reasons for why self‐disclosure is so difficult and how these difficulties may prevent productive forms of coproduction. These questions are addressed both from a psychiatrist's autoethnographic account and from the perspective of a peer worker who works in various coproductive relationships. It is shown that mental health professionals often revert to an “I‐as‐we”, speaking of themselves as a collective and thereby reifying the boundaries between ‘vulnerable users’ and ‘invulnerable professionals’. Ethnographic examples are given, of how these boundaries are produced by a continuous, often invisible, and powerful category work. It is discussed how the dichotomous logic of these boundaries can cause people on both sides to feel reduced to a representation of a certain species, which can take on an existential dimension. Ways out are identified for mental health professionals to self‐reflexively engage with their own crisis experience in coproductive and other relationships.