Many years ago, soon after I got out of the mental health system I applied to see my hospital notes. They arrived, two inches thick, inside some tidy brown folders.

I was shocked. I knew that the psychiatrists’ main interest in me was my psychopathology. I knew they found me frustrating, because their treatments didn’t work and I kept coming back. I knew they were irritated when I questioned their expertise.  But what I don’t know until I read my notes is how little regard they had for...