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Originally Posted by Rose76
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I've long been enthused about peer support among consumers of psych services, and I've wished there were more of it around. Your analysis of relative power imbalance helps me understand why peer support works differently. . .
I realize criticism can be, and has been, made of the "12 Step" model. But it did a good job of upending the notion that possession of medical degrees somehow equipped doctors to turn around the lives of alcohol abusers. I think we need a similar paradigm shift in how we think about what persons with issues like mood and personality disorders can do to repair their damaged lives. "Getting treatment," IMHO, is grotesquely over-rated. Attendees at 12 step meetings aren't there to "get treatment." They may be getting some medical treatment of substance abuse, as an adjunct to their program of recovery, but their recovery isn't placed mainly in the hands of people with letters after their names. Maybe we with psych issues need to be thinking along the same lines.
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I've been involved in several peer support programs, including Emotions Anonymous which is a 12-step program which had some good aspects but leaned too much, in my view, on the 12-step format, which seems to work well for addictions but doesn't seem as good, to me, for just psych issues.
The thing I wanted there, as I have wanted from therapists and from PsychCentral from time to time, was the honest, social feedback, in a "safe" environment. I wanted to deal with my issues realistically, staring at them as straight in the eye as I could, but without shame. It seems like that's something a lot of folks might want, but I have not been able to find it anywhere.
Can you name some specific things that you would like in a peer support program?