Columns

ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Learning Acceptance Yet Employing Anger

Jack Bragen
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 01:24:00 PM

Acceptance of "what is" constitutes a large part of numerous religious and meditative traditions. Acceptance on an emotional level is very practical, because it allows individuals to work for change from a reality-based and nonviolent place. While certainly, anger has its uses, so does acceptance. I believe it is possible to be angry and in acceptance at the same time. This means that you acknowledge the reality you face, you are angry about it, but you are not creating violence of word or deed in your attempt to make things better.  

Acceptance is applicable to the predicament of having a psychiatric difficulty. Accepting that you do have a problem, first acknowledging it and then being okay with this fact, is the beginning of a long road toward recovery. Recovery is continuous. Mental illnesses generally aren’t curable, and therefore, recovery has a different definition than from a flu, or from a broken leg.  

Acceptance that the illness exists, acceptance of the need for treatment, all the while continuing to accept one's own validity as a human being, are some of the ways that this attitude can help. Being a little angry can help, too, when expressed in the motivation to do better, and in confronting stinking thinking.  

If we are mistreated by the mental health treatment system, using anger effectively, and in combination with acceptance, can mean going through proper channels to resolve the incident(s). In dealing with the mental health system, if we respond to abuse in a way that appears violent, it only escalates the situation and this potentially brings more abuse. If you want to even things up, employ nonviolent resources, such as registering a grievance according to a grievance policy, reporting mistreatment to the appropriate agency (such as your local mental health commission, your state medical board, or a journalist) or you could also contact an attorney.  

Therapists are often observing you. You can observe them also. You could figure out what techniques they use to gain psychological advantage. There is nothing wrong with considering yourself an equal of a treatment practitioner. They aren't "better" than we are.  

I am fortunate that for the most part, at least in the last twenty years, the mental health treatment system hasn't been abusive toward me. Many of the human rights violations that once existed have been resolved through activism of mental health survivors—people who were grossly mistreated and who forced changes in how mentally ill people are treated. The "abuse" I have experienced has been subtle for the most part, and has not been on a level that required I report anything to an agency, or obtain other help.  

Others have not been as fortunate. 

Acceptance doesn't have to mean that we become a human doormat. The anger factor can mean that we will stand up for our rights. The acceptance factor can mean that we do so in a manner that doesn’t hurt anyone or get us into more trouble. Regardless of what some people might say about anger being beneath the level of spiritual "enlightenment," sometimes we need our anger.