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