- guardian.co.uk, Thursday December 21 2000 08.25 GMT
Relationships between patients and professionals could deteriorate as a direct result of the mental health white paper, believes clinical psychologist Rufus May.
"There's already an 'us and them' attitude," he said. "Compulsory treatments will only increase that."
Mr May was diagnosed as schizophrenic at the age of 18 and now uses his experience of being a psychiatric patient to challenge the traditional approaches to treatment.
As someone who has knowledge of mental health care from a user's and a professional's perspective, he has deep concerns about some of health minister Alan Milburn's proposals.
"I came off medication against advice," said Mr May. "And if community treatment orders had been around when I stopped taking medication, I might not be where I am today.
"I am concerned that this will further undermine the civil rights of people with mental health problems - especially black people, who are more likely to be given diagnoses of severe mental health problems."
Mr May said he felt some of the white paper's proposals were a knee-jerk response to rare but high-profile attacks by people with mental health problems.
"The number of killings has gone down since care in the community was introduced," he said. "And the cases there have been, instead of looking at them as involving a person who is not taking medication, we should look at them as involving a person who is not receiving multidisciplinary care."
Now a lobbyist on mental health issues, Mr May hopes the government will continue listening to users and professionals before finalising its reforms of the Mental Health Act.
He added: "I would have liked to see something which will further empower clients so that people have a chance to say how they would like to be treated. I would like advocacy for everyone.
"I would also like to see stricter rules about informing clients and their families about their admissions and treatment - at the moment they are not being given enough information."
Most of all, Mr May hopes to see a climate where more service users feel encouraged to train as mental health professionals.
"I have seen clients treated as second-class citizens, but that is changing and I would like to see more collaborative relationships developed between professionals and clients."
