Experiences of rejection by mental health patients— A qualitative study

Abstract

Background and aim: People suffering from mental illness and their experiences of attitudes towards them are rarely investigated from the perspective of the individual. The aim was to gain an understanding of how a group of mental health patients experienced social relationships in personal settings as well as in society. Me-thod: Open interviews with twenty-five mental health patients were conducted and analysed with a qualitative content analysis. Result: The essence of the result was that mental health pa-tients' experiences are still not taken enough into account, neither by mental health profes-sionals nor by their social networks. This was underpinned by four core categories: Patients' experience of deteriorated and reduced social contacts due to various degrees of acceptance and knowledge of people in general; service users reported on difficulties with social con-tacts in general, with family relationships, rela-tionships with friends and workmates and with employers; reduced life opportunities were ex-pressed, including violated self-image and poor coping competence and, ambivalent experi-ences of contact with the mental health services were reported. Conclusion and clinical implica-tion: The present study contributes to the un-derstanding of mental health patients' experi-ences of professional services and of their so-cial networks. This knowledge may strengthen the implications of patient-centred care essen-tial for the outcome of the care.