The Social Drama of Mental Health Professionals who are also Former Mental Health Service Users

Studies indicate that the lived experience of being a mental health service user is common among mental health professionals. However, little is known about how such experiences may influence clinical practice. Through interviews and diary notes from fourteen Danish mental health professionals, we explored how these experiences become part of everyday practices. Data were coded and analyzed following an abductive process incorporating the theory of social drama by Victor Turner. We propose a conceptual model of the transitional challenges faced by these professionals within the current social order of Danish mental health services. For some, the lived experience disturbed the social order to such a degree that they questioned their employment; for others, lived experience was either shared verbally or concealed from service users and/or colleagues in ways that did not disturb the social order significantly. The proposed conceptual model points to dichotomies of service users versus professionals and of madness versus normalcy as evident discursive practices within mental health services that do not favor mental health professionals drawing on their lived experience.