THE BUSINESS

An Ongoing Concern For All of Us
BY Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P)

The mental illness system is first and foremost a "business" and as a business, is in business to make money.

In relation to that business, the "customer" can be a happy and satisfied "customer" or an unhappy one, but since this "business" defines an unhappy "customer" as a customer who needs it's "product" and who will have it forced upon her if necessary, it is a business for which no chance of failure, because of it's shoddy product, can ever possibly exist. Therefore, loss of this business need never be feared by those running the business.

Total customer control may seem like a great thing to those who play the role of the controller, but when you are in the role of the controlled, this "business" seems more like a monster that has gotten completely out of control. Those of us trapped within it, run around endlessly in circles looking for a logical means of escape from the "help." Had we known we had no choice but to humour the psychiatrists, we would have done that from day one and saved ourselves a lot of wasted effort. At least now, we can all look back and see how we were trapped within it right from the beginning. For we who have shared the experience understand we must come full circle to see the truth that was right there all along.