The people that use mental health services

[SWM]

i have just heard something which i find ridiculous and hard to believe. a representative from mental health services consumer group has during a conference stated that users of mental health services have been polled and the results show that the users would prefer to be refered to as consumers as opposed to patients, clients, service users. this was picked up by other professionals at the conference and the term is coming into general use.
 
i have tried to find some written documentation regarding this change of terminology but as yet i only have word of mouth of other mental health and social work professionals.
 
what do you think about the terminology used to describe consumers of mental heatlh services? does describing people as consumers sound like a positive descriptive term for users of mental health services?
 
if you are or have been a user of mental health service would you have objections to being called a consumer? what would you prefer your generic group name to be?
 
if you are a professional who works with individuals in mental health, what term do use and how would you feel about refering to your case load as consumers?
 
lots of questions, food for thought!

[corwin137]

So glad they're investing such resources in issues such as this.  Oy.

As for the query though, I usually just call 'em clients.  My sense of this is that I work for these people.  I wouldn't even care if I called 'em my "boss".  Sometimes I'm that vague, and just describe them as the people I work for.

[Shell]

As a user of mental health services, I don't consider myself a consumer.  I would prefer to be called a client.

I don't know, the term "consumers" just doesn't sit right with me.  It doesn't seem to be incorrectly used at all - consumers are people who utilize service, so I guess it's fine.  I just don't understand what's wrong with using the terms "patients" or "clients."  Why fix what isn't broken?

[cognitive]

The true is  if I were a user of mental  health services, I would hate the name "patient" ,cause that would imply sickness and almost a forever etiquette as a "mentally ill " from a society who judges superficially by appearances .
I would rather prefer the term "consumer" , though I'd be looking for a still better one .

[Shell]

Good point, Cognitive.  In the Air Force, we've gone back and forth between the terms "Mental Health" and "Life Skills".  Personally, as a user, I only cared in the very beginning of my career.  However, after many briefings as a military member about our health services, I guess many of us have become used to the term "Mental Health" that we kind of laughed when they changed it to Life Skills and then back to Mental Health again. 

I guess the Air Force is trying to be sensitive, but can't make up its mind whether it is worth it or not.

So I guess my views are a bit blurred because of desensitization. 

[SWM]

The true is  if I were a user of mental  health services, I would hate the name "patient" ,cause that would imply sickness and almost a forever etiquette as a "mentally ill " from a society who judges superficially by appearances .
I would rather prefer the term "consumer" , though I'd be looking for a still better one .

if you were to visit your doctors surgery and you were sat in a waiting room with other people waiting to see the doctor, what term would you use to describe the other people sat in the waiting room.

[rolpete08]

I guess you might have to go to some online encyclopedia of articles on mental disorders, treatment, medications, and research like mental health service . it might give you more information about it.

[regit]

Consumer - sounds like I am buying a product and using it (ie. I am a shampoo consumer). I do not see consumer as a proper description for services.

Patient - has a bit of a mental hospital ring to it... 

Client - what i would probably choose if I had to pick one. It doesn't have the negative connotation (like i believe counseling "patient" does), but I think it properly refers to a service.


I am a college student receiving counseling, and I am pretty sure they call us 'patients'.