For the author, counseling the mentally ill turned into a form of self-therapy.
The last decade has brought widespread use of peer counseling - people with mental illness working with people with mental illness - as a supplement (not a replacement) to traditional psychiatric treatment with medication and psychotherapy. The hiring of patients, or consumers, as they are known, has become standard practice.
Studies are beginning to show the efficacy of this approach. The World Health Organization's 2001 report noted that "patients with mental disorders can be very successful in helping themselves, and peer support has been important in a number of conditions for recovery.
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