Understanding Martin Buber’s “I-Thou” Theory in the Care Coordination of Patients with Mental Illness

Care coordination among patients with mental illness can be challenging if not extremely draining and difficult because of the intellectual, social limitations, educational and emotional fragility of the population that healthcare providers must navigate during the care encounter. Both therapeutic and care coordination processes “requires some steady conception of the fully human.” That a successful care coordination needs to have a good understanding of what is meant to be a human person. This is exactly what Buber’s theory of the human person “offers and why his work has proven so valuable to clinicians.” Custodialism has been popular and was considered as the norm for quite some time during the delivery process within the behavioral health units. However, this approach resulted in depersonalization of patients and has encouraged dependency and powerlessness. Today, the new care coordination model calls for the transformation of behavioral units into therapeutic community wherein “the person-to-person encounter is enhanced and sustained through a revitalized institutional environment.” The “I- Thou” theory of Buber presents a scientific and sociological approach that has a deeper implication in clinical practice with greater emphasis on care and rehabilitation rather than control and custody in psychiatric medical treatment.