Understanding a mental health problem: How are the views of their local faith community and those of the NHS mental health staff caring for them, experienced by Christian service-users

This research used an Interpretative Phenomenological Approach to explore how
Christians, who have had an inpatient mental health admission, experience the views
of their local faith community and those of their NHS mental health staff caring for
them. I recruited eight participants (six female and two male) and interviewed them
using a semi-structured interview format. The analysis suggests that participants
could experience both the church and the mental health systems positively, as a
"sanctuary", or negatively, as a "prison." Participants gave accounts of both the
church and the mental health system providing explanations for their experiences.
These explanations ranged from participants' experiences being perceived as entirely
spiritual, entirely psychiatric or an integration of the two. The analysis described how
participants wanted to make sense of their experiences and that they developed their
explanations through the process of coming into contact with the church and the
mental health system. The analysis suggests that participants actively navigated their
way through these systems in order to seek out the "sanctuary" experiences and avoid
the "prison" experiences, primarily through the way that they would choose to
disclose or keep information hidden. The possible reasons for the "prison"
experiences and ways in which both the church and the medical system can be
experienced as "sanctuary" are explored further. Areas for further research are
identified.

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