Wow, it's been too long.
& before I say anything else, I realllyyy wasn't too sure where this fits, but I shoved it here for now.
This is something really I've been thinking about, and thought it'd be the right place to talk about it more here!
Basically, in Psychology, the teacher's been mentioning the terms "patient" and "client" in terms of people in therapy. The general consensus among my Psychology teachers is that "client" is a much more appropriate way of calling a person in therapy, over "patient" which they seem to feel describes something more passive and physical.
Personally, I much prefer the term "patient", and "client" seems alien, clinical and formal. As someone who's been this person, I'd have hated to have been referred to as a "client". It seems far too linked to business deals in my mind, nevermind the points I've mentioned already like it being overly formal. Somehow, to me, "patient" refers more to being helped, looked after, safe. I do see the point about it seeming like the person in therapy's more passive, rather than playing an active role as perhaps "client" suggests more, but isn't it more comforting to see therapy as being helpful to you than as a scary thing you have to negotiate?
Hm, I could debate this in my mind for ages.
I was wondering what you all thought. :)
I'm my therapist's client.
I'm my homeopath's patient.
But, basically I'm seen as Katie, with all my complexities, needs and struggles.
Actually, my therapist never uses the term 'client' with me. [My child state would probably freak out if she did, heh!]
My flatmate's mum is a therapist, and she uses the term 'patient'.
To be honest, to a therapist who practices with a full heart, those who come to him/her in need of help are just that, people who need some guidance and support and understanding and insight and nurturance.
Our mental health trust tends to refer to people as "service users", which I really hate. I think it's because it implies that it's an option people chose, which isn't really the case as no one would choose it unless they were unwell!
Client I don't like either though I guess with therapy it's slightly different. Perhaps if I was paying privately for therapy I'd be happy being a client, after all it would be a choice to pay for the therapist and any transactions are between me and her. Whereas with an NHS therapist, I'm not a client and I think referring to me as such sort of implies that I just feel like using NHS resources in such a way. I also feel that the NHS are the client as they are the ones financing it.
I prefer patient. After all I have an illness and am recieving treatment to alleviate those symptoms. With regards to seeing a patient as a passive role, when people are referred to a physiotherapist are they taking a passive role? Lots of forms of treatment require input from the patients, yet no one suggests that those patients should be referred to as anything else.
I prefer patient too. I sometimes feel that not calling you a patient is like saying mental illness isn't a real illness, why can't we have the same name as people with physical problems?
Also, I really really hate service user!
I, too, prefer the term patient. I always refer to "us" as patients rather than client/service user. For the same reasons that we don't want to further separate mental health problems from physical ones. They're all just illnesses, there to be fought and/or understood, for mechanisms to learn for coping.
We had this discussion during a cig break on the ward the other night, the member of staff said there'd been a survey done, not sure if it's just in this area or nationwide, and it said that the results for people prefering "patient", "client" or "service user" all came out equal.
Im on the fence on this one. I think I would go for client. But this is because, to me the term patient reffers to someone who is sick. And while im struggling with mental health stuff I am not sick! Also you know how you can get sucked into Mental health stuff, perhaps people being called patient can embrace it and such. Kind of like the whole, dont get a diagnosis as you will live up to it type thing, being called a patient perhaps with some people they start living up to that.
I have been called both by different people and i much prefer patient as client does sound more clinical and harsh but i think mostly i am seen as a person rather then a term which i like best.
Ah, me and my mum have been discussing this forever! I always called myself a patient and I called other patients that too. Why? Because that's what I feel like I am. When I go to the drs for non MH stuff, I am a patient and I find that fine as well so why not for my psychiatrist.
We get 'service user' around here a lot. I don't like that. It seems like a phrase that has been created cause they don't want to upset anyone... 'Client' is so official, definitely sounds like a business transaction which I don't like the feel of.
I have noticed though that in 'real life' most of my 'therapy friends, etc' prefer service user over patient.
The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.
Wind in the Willows.
I agree that service user is just awful, my Mental Health Trust uses it as well, and I don't know, it just sounds a bit foreign and I agree with Heidi, it makes it sound like it's a choice.
I actually prefer patient, just because it's what I'd refer to myself as for physical health problems, so why not mental health problems as well. Maybe I just fear change, but client to me seems very out of place for the situation that it is.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Make us all feel wonderful. We'll never forget."
i prefer patient, as that is what I am. I am being treated for a health problem, thus I am a patient to the people who treat me (or who did!)
I guess with the uni support I am a student who uses their service.
But my CPN at uni I am a patient, psych - patient, when in hosp - patient, my old workers - patient. Though know a couple of places called us service users.
You made up your mind to torture mine!
If you read a scar like a book, you will relise the story in which you over look
We don't have the term 'service user' over here as far as I'm aware of - it sounds pretty ridiculous..
Technically when I am inpatient I am referred to as a patient, when I am out of hospital I am a client.
I think the term patient can have a whole lot of baggage with people, they can fall into the 'patient/sick role' and that is really unhealthy, they embrace their illness and it becomes them, when really yes they have a mental illness, but they are still a person, with many more aspects to them other than illness, whether they see it or not.
Patient can be a kind of passive term as in you just sit back and get "fixed"... Which is SO not how it is, recovering/healing takes a lot of effort on the part of the person with the mental illness, and I think while it may seem too clinical or business like it can give power to the person receiving therapy. That they can take control. They are unwell, yes but they still need to make decisions and work on getting better they can't just go to therapy and expect the psych to do it all for them....
I don't think it matters unless you get caught up in being sick and take on the patient role.
I've been reffered to as 'patient' , 'client' and 'service user'. I prefer patient.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
I prefer the term 'client' but I might be of a different opinion if I wasn't 'clinically stable' as I have been for months and not heavily reliant on the NHS MH services like I have been in the past.
Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?
