A provocative paper says that neuroscientists who research mental health problems ought to listen to the views of people who have experienced those conditions.
The piece, from Australian authors Anthony Stratford and colleagues, is published in The Psychiatric Quarterly.
Here are some highlights:
Traditionally, mental health consumer [i.e. patient] involvement in research activities has largely been as “subjects”… the passive recipients of research activity… This approach does little to engage consumers.
[Community engagement] enables numerous benefits, especially in establishing the direction and utility of the research. The scientist has an opportunity to benefit from an up-to-date perspective on the everyday problems faced by people with the condition or disease they are investigating.
Through dialogue, researchers could consider the challenges that people with mental ill health experience in their daily life; such as obtaining employment or organising finances, looking after their home or relationships.
Neuroscience disciplines are highly technical in the language and experimental protocols that they employ, which can often make them difficult for members of the general community to understand.
All of this is sensible enough, but there’s a major blind spot here. Stratford et al. talk as if scientists and patients (or ‘consumers&rsquo
are two distinct groups. But what about the people who fall into both categories? What about those neuroscience researchers who have experienced mental illness themselves?
[For more of this story go to http://blogs.discovermagazine....ntists/#.VV3Y8PlVikp]
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