I think I get this. I have felt like this when I’ve been ill.I wanted to get better but was quite involved with my own suffering. I wanted out of the system but I was desperate for them to validate how ill I was. It’s a messsed up paradox which you only really understand when you’re feeling better. For example I would go see my psych wen I was in a manic episode and on one hand I’d be asking them why the hell I was there, there’s nothing wrong with me etc, but when the clinic letter came through saying I was coherent and presenting normally I’d be annoyed, because I didn’t feel normal. On the other hand if they’d said I was ill and needed to go into hospital I would have felt aggrieved. When I was quite badly psychotic I agreed to go into hospital, then kicked off because I didn’t want to be there. Your mind gets fucked up when you’re ill, it’s hard to explain. You don’t want to be seen as ill, well because it’s shit, but you don’t want to be seen as being fine because you know you aren’t.
I do agree with what PPs have said about MH support groups. They can be incredibly supportive places where you don’t feel judged, but by the same token you can get rather wrapped up in each other’s problems to an unhealthy degree. Anyone who’s been on a psychiatric ward will recognise this dynamic. It’s almost like when something exciting happens in school and everybody’s talking about it. There can be an air of feverishness, which can be really harmful when translated to a group of people who have serious MH problems.
OP I’d tell your friend to just get on with her recovery. I’ve come across a couple of non too good psychiatrists in my time although I didn’t encounter them at my best. it’s on your friend to get herself well at the end of the day and it makes little difference what her psych says, because she has to live with her illness, not them. The best way to get them to believe that you’re well is to show them. If you’re quibbling about things it just makes them think you aren’t, which tbh is probably true. I remember having an argument with a doctor because I wanted to leave hospital. it was a really bad time on the ward and a patient was psychotic and kicking off repeatedly and it was distressing me so much it was making me worse. I was quite aggressive in my insistence that I was well enough to go home, the doctor did not agree. She said it was my reaction that told her I wasn’t well enough, which on reflection was probably true. Your behaviour tends to give more away about your mental state than you think, and if your actions don’t match your words the doctors will see it. Please don’t wind your friend up about this, it won’t do her any good whatsoever.