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We live in a society where academia is our measurement of good parenting.  Teaching good relationships to encourage our children to develop empathy and manage their emotional regularity is rarely considered.  Parents assume that children ‘glean’ this information and don’t identify our society’s individualism and consumerism as the main culprits in causing our ‘mental wealth crisis’.

The workshop was a very powerful experience as we were faced with the immense pain of the stories of indigenous Australians, compounded by psychiatric imperialism. We were also reminded once again that like the Māori and Pacific Islanders, First Nation Australians have an awareness of community, spirituality, identity and connection to the natural world that has been disastrously eroded in Westernised countries, with profound impacts on all aspects of our wellbeing.

I have no doubt that New Zealand’s major Government inquiry into mental health will result in some real improvements, but it seems likely to fall short of a fundamental challenge to the diagnostic approach. Nevertheless, if the Power Threat Meaning Framework can help a move in that direction, I and the other authors will be delighted. In the meantime, I will always value the lifelong connection that has now been forged with the marae at Manawanui.

In the interest of the patients who are currently experiencing withdrawal reactions and the many more who will suffer withdrawal effects in the future, we need to end this “war”. Academic psychiatry must address these problems and conduct thorough research on withdrawal reactions.

Having one’s rights and freedoms removed is inherently degrading, no matter how nicely or correctly the procedures for enforcing and managing those removals are implemented. When one’s ability to act autonomously and in personally meaningful ways is significantly undermined for an extended period of time, it is soul destroying, and for me, it certainly contributed to my escalating mental distress.