Our mindset, rooted in a biomedical approach, needs a radical overhaul

OUR national policy on mental health, A Vision for Change, was launched five years ago.

Most media attention has been focused on the resources, financial and human, needed for its implementation. However, the reality has failed to match the vision and the mental health community has been left with a real sense of déjà vu.

The main challenge of A Vision for Change is in terms of cultural change, which will not be delivered by new resources alone. The major questions to be answered are 1) How can those of us who work in the mental health system free ourselves from an institutional mindset, centred on an ethic of control? 2) How can we get beyond the narrow biomedical paradigm that shapes our understanding of mental health problems and guides our interventions? 3) How can we move from paternalism to collaboration in professional-patient relationships?