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Social Networks for Mental Health Clients: Resources and Solution

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Abstract

Several studies have illustrated the importance of social support and social networks for persons with mental health problems. Social networks may mean a reduced need for professional services, but also help to facilitate access to professional help. The interplay between social networks and professional services is complicated and invites further investigation. Compare aspects of clients’ experiences with social networks to experiences with professional services and learn about the relationship between network resources and help from the public health service system. Quantitative analyses of a sample of 850 informants. Supportive networks exist for a majority of the informants and can also be a substitute for public/professional services in many respects. Regarding help to recover, social networks may offer qualities equal to those of professional services. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between trust in a social network and trust in public professional services. Trust in a social network also increases the probability of achieving positive experiences with professional services. Our findings imply that more network qualities should be included in professional services, and also that professionals should assist vulnerable groups in building networks.

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Notes

  1. Often, distinctions are made between social support and social networks, saying that social networks represent a more objective quantity, while social support is the active part of it or the perceived support. The relationship between social networks and social support is an interesting one as a subject to study per se, but since the focus in this article is on relations between social networks and professional services—rather than between networks and support—the concepts are used more intuitively and with less accuracy.

  2. The intention was to include every second member of the 5,000 members and send a reminder to the same sample, but when it came to the second round, the organization could no longer identify every second member from the first round. In the second round, questionnaires were sent to the first 3,000 members in the new members list, so as a result, a total of 4,000 members received the questionnaire and approximately 1,500 of them received it twice.

  3. The questionnaire can be provided on enquiry.

  4. The question was: Have you experiences which you will characterize as strong, negative experiences in meetings with public or other health care services?

  5. The largest portion—293 informants—answered that they would like an institution where they could rest, feel cared about, have talks and be supported in the mastering of their daily life.

  6. The question was about how satisfying the life is now and the respondents were asked to tick in on a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 was “Life is very satisfying” and 7 “I am very dissatisfied”. See also Ruggeri & Dall’Agnola (1993).

  7. When the opportunity to talk through bad experiences here is seen as a core factor in mental health services, it is based on earlier surveys documenting the strong relationship between mental health and having someone to confide in (Strupp 1995; SSB 1998; Faktarapporten 2000).

  8. The data also revealed that 164 persons had never found a place where talking about bad experiences had been possible.

  9. The following alternatives were given: Family, friends and neighbors, Individual talk therapy outside polyclinic, Traditional mental hospital, Polyclinic, Day centre, Psychomotor therapy, User governed centers and services, Other, Organized volunteers services, Family therapy, Help lines, Woman’s’ or men’s refuge. Most of the informants listed family/friends/neighbors as source of help, and the biggest share of positive experiences was also found in contact with family/friends/neighbors.

  10. Living examples of informal or non-professional support are user-controlled houses, crisis hostels, The Berlin Runaway House, trauma-informed peer-run crisis alternatives, and the international network toward alternatives and recovery described in the book “Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry” (Stastny and Lehmann 2007), in which well-known models such as The Soteria House (see also Aderholdt and Stastny 2007 and Mosher and Hendrix 2004) and open network dialogues (Seikkula 2000) are described. The content in the alternatives described are a retreat to a quiet and safe place, massage therapy, contact with nature and animals, expressive artistic activity, writing, reflection in self-help groups, political activism, protest against diagnoses, a consciously balanced lifestyle, proper diet and sufficient sleep, choice of potential helpers, thinking ahead of crises, social support, someone caring, staying close to, making inquiries, avoiding intrusion and gaining the respect of personal space.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Hedmark University College, Kirkevegen 47, 2418, Elverum, Norway

    Ragnfrid Eline Kogstad

  2. Department of Statistics, Business and Administration, Hedmark University College, Campus Rena, Rena, Norway

    Erik Mönness

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Oslo, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Tom Sörensen

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  1. Ragnfrid Eline Kogstad
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  2. Erik Mönness
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  3. Tom Sörensen
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Correspondence to Ragnfrid Eline Kogstad.

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Kogstad, R.E., Mönness, E. & Sörensen, T. Social Networks for Mental Health Clients: Resources and Solution. Community Ment Health J 49, 95–100 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-012-9491-4

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