I sometimes write about the mental health "system" and with the quotation marks around "system", but I think I really did not fully "get" it: in this country, at least, like the rest of health care, there is no system. I think most of the picture I have developed in my own mind about mental health has been as a result of my own experiences and with my own reading -- very little as a result of hearing anything understandable from any practitioners. There is no advocate explaining anything, or directing one towards effective help. It is like a market and I am the buyer and I am left to my own devices to figure out what is going on. If I am a poor buyer, it is pretty much "buyer beware" and "good luck".

I am not sure why it has taken me so long to really realize this. Maybe I did not want to realize it. Maybe it would have been too scary for me to comprehend it. It might have been a lot better for me if I had understood this years ago. There is no system.