To the mental health professional: first heal thyself. ~~ I spent about 15 years in social service agencies in the United States as a social worker serving folks with a large spectrum of mental health issues.   I've spent another 20 years helping those harmed by psychiatry find healing, while I did the same for myself. What I learned is that, as a generalization, most mental health professionals are not comfortable with their own unchartered psyches and therefore, project their fear onto the people they are charged to help. This unconscious habit contributes in large part to the incredibly unsuccessful mental health system in our country. It's much more appropriate to call it a mental illness system as that is what it breeds and perpetuates.