Consumer/survivor movement

“. . . the growing influence of consumer/survivor perspectives has largely been a consequence, not a cause, of radical restructuring of the mental health field. . . . Consumer/survivor perspectives entered policy discourse in the wake of policy failures and have flourished in a climate of perpetual crisis and tight budgets. Patient advocates have proved most effective in reshaping the criteria for what constitutes effective treatment: an integrated program of health and social services aimed at recovery and rehabilitation. They have had far less success in addressing the systemic problems in health care and welfare policies that stand in the way of such an integrated approach. In that failure, they are in good company, for no stakeholder group has been able effectively to address those problems” (Tomes III, 727).