Recovery of People with Mental Illness

Recovery of People with Mental Illness
Author: Abraham Rudnick
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2012-08-30
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 019165499X

It is only in the past 20 years that the concept of 'recovery' from mental health has been more widely considered and researched. Before then, it was generally considered that 'stability' was the best that anyone suffering from a mental disorder could hope for. But now it is recognised that, throughout their mental illness, many patients develop new beliefs, feelings, values, attitudes, and ways of dealing with their disorder. The notion of recovery from mental illness is thus rapidly being accepted and is inserting more hope into mainstream psychiatry and other parts of the mental health care system around the world. Yet, in spite of conceptual and other challenges that this notion raises, including a variety of interpretations, there is scarcely any systematic philosophical discussion of it. This book is unique in addressing philosophical issues - including conceptual challenges and opportunities - raised by the notion of recovery of people with mental illness. Such recovery - particularly in relation to serious mental illness such as schizophrenia - is often not about cure and can mean different things to different people. For example, it can mean symptom alleviation, ability to work, or the striving toward mental well-being (with or without symptoms). The book addresses these different meanings and their philosophical grounds, bringing to the fore perspectives of people with mental illness and their families as well as perspectives of philosophers, mental health care providers and researchers, among others. The important new work will contribute to further research, reflective practice and policy making in relation to the recovery of people with mental illness.It is essential reading for philosophers of health, psychiatrists, and other mental care providers, as well as policy makers.

Recovery of People with Mental Illness: Philosophical and Related Perspectives

Recovery of People with Mental Illness: Philosophical and Related Perspectives
Author: Abraham Rudnick
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2012-08-30
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0191655007

It is only in the past 20 years that the concept of 'recovery' from mental health has been more widely considered and researched. Before then, it was generally considered that 'stability' was the best that anyone suffering from a mental disorder could hope for. But now it is recognised that, throughout their mental illness, many patients develop new beliefs, feelings, values, attitudes, and ways of dealing with their disorder. The notion of recovery from mental illness is thus rapidly being accepted and is inserting more hope into mainstream psychiatry and other parts of the mental health care system around the world. Yet, in spite of conceptual and other challenges that this notion raises, including a variety of interpretations, there is scarcely any systematic philosophical discussion of it. This book is unique in addressing philosophical issues - including conceptual challenges and opportunities - raised by the notion of recovery of people with mental illness. Such recovery - particularly in relation to serious mental illness such as schizophrenia - is often not about cure and can mean different things to different people. For example, it can mean symptom alleviation, ability to work, or the striving toward mental well-being (with or without symptoms). The book addresses these different meanings and their philosophical grounds, bringing to the fore perspectives of people with mental illness and their families as well as perspectives of philosophers, mental health care providers and researchers, among others. The important new work will contribute to further research, reflective practice and policy making in relation to the recovery of people with mental illness.It is essential reading for philosophers of health, psychiatrists, and other mental care providers, as well as policy makers.

Personal Recovery and Mental Illness

Personal Recovery and Mental Illness
Author: Mike Slade
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2009-05-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0521746582

Focuses on a shift away from traditional clinical preoccupations towards new priorities of supporting the patient.

Reflections on the Meaning of Mental Integrity

Reflections on the Meaning of Mental Integrity
Author: Marcia A. Murphy
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1666708895

How is mental integrity (the state of being complete, whole) achieved in light of serious mental illness? The author’s intent is that this work will be a source of insight and healing for many and that it will equip the church, conjoined with the medical/scientific field of psychiatry, to do a better job of enabling people living with mental illness to access the resources they need for becoming whole. The author shares some of her personal story of experience with serious mental illness, i.e., its genesis and her subsequent recovery process, which included involvement in a Christian community and her ministry work as an advocate for the mentally ill.

Living Outside Mental Illness

Living Outside Mental Illness
Author: Larry Davidson
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2003-08
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0814719422

An essential volume for improving understanding of the recovery process for people diagnosed with schizophrenia Schizophrenia is widely considered the most severe and disabling of the mental illnesses. Yet recent research has demonstrated that many people afflicted with the disorder are able to recover to a significant degree. Living Outside Mental Illness demonstrates the importance of listening to what people diagnosed with schizophrenia themselves have to say about their struggle, and shows the dramatic effect this approach can have on clinical practice and social policy. It presents an in-depth investigation, based on a phenomenological perspective, of experiences of illness and recovery as illuminated by compelling first-person descriptions. This volume forcefully makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services. The research has important clinical and policy implications, and will be of key interest to those in psychology and the helping professions as well as to people in recovery and their families.

Schizophrenia and the Fate of the Self

Schizophrenia and the Fate of the Self
Author: Paul Lysaker
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2008-08-14
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

With ever more detailed models of the neurobiological and social systems out of which schizophrenia is born, it is possible to overlook how suffering persons actually experience their symptoms.This book examines the experiences of persons who suffer from schizophrenia. It provides a highly readable and humane examination of this common condition.

Recovering from Psychosis

Recovering from Psychosis
Author: Stephen Williams
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2015-11-19
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1135045755

The use of first-hand service user accounts of mental illness is still limited in the professional literature available. This is, however, beginning to change, with a new ‘recovery’ focus in mental health services meaning that the voices of service users are finally being heard. Recovering from Psychosis: Empirical Evidence and Lived Experience synthesises a narrative approach alongside an evidence-based review of current treatment by including Stephen Williams’ own personal experience as it relates to psychosis, recovery and treatment. A mental health professional himself, the author’s account of his own recovery from severe mental health difficulties, without sustained intervention, challenges the orthodoxy of representation of service users in mental health. Recovering from Psychosis critically explores and reviews the current state of the art of research and knowledge about the nature and treatment of psychosis. Working simultaneously from empirical, lived experience and philosophical perspectives, Stephen Williams: Evaluates political and power related issues in professional understanding, knowledge-creation and treatment of people with psychosis; Introduces the current ‘recovery movement’, unpacking its origins and implications for the future development of ‘recovery oriented services’; Reviews, summarizes and critiques the current state of ‘recovery’ research, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach, examining how this is influencing the transformation of UK mental health services; Analyses the difficulties in organisational implementation of recovery approaches, summarises the most empirically robust approaches to practice, personal and service delivery measurement; Reviews current ‘models’ of psychosis and how various professional scientific groups explain the experience and nature of psychosis; Uses lived-experience accounts taken from the scientific literature, portraying the nature of such experiences and analysing them in the face of contemporary psychological models. Recovering from Psychosis is an essential comprehensive guide for mental health professionals, psychologists, social workers and carers, who are working with people with severe and enduring mental health difficulties diagnosed as psychosis. It addresses the practical implications of working with such difficult conditions and serves as a hopeful story of recovery for service users.

Psychological Recovery

Psychological Recovery
Author: Retta Andresen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2011-07-13
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1119975166

This book offers a succinct model of recovery from serious mental illness, synthesizing stories of lived experience to provide a framework for clinical work and research in the field of recovery. • Places the process of recovery within the context of normal human growth and development • Compares and contrasts concepts of recovery from mental illness with the literature on grief, loss and trauma • Situates recovery within the growing field of positive psychology – focusing on the active, hopeful process • Describes a consumer-oriented, stage-based model of psychological recovery which is unique in its focus on intrapersonal processes

Postpsychiatry

Postpsychiatry
Author: Patrick J. Bracken
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2005-12-22
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780198526094

For most of us the words madness and psychosis conjure up fear and images of violence. Using short stories, the authors consider complex philosphical issues from a fresh perspective. The current debates about mental health policy and practice are placed into their historical and cultural contexts.

Reality and Reason

Reality and Reason
Author: Robert Alan Cowley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 92
Release: 2010-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781449057343

Reality and Reason is a reactionary book to the term "mentalist." Society has adopted the term to symbolise the behaviours of people that may be mentally ill. I see this as an attack on the credability of service users and as an insult to the struggles of individuals to recover from mental illness. I have included my own personal recovery model that maps what has enabled my own recovery from schizophrenia. This is not a recovery model that may be a one size fits all but I feel it identifies my own process of recovery and believe it should at least spark bebate on the issue of enabling recovery from mental illness. Reality and Reason is written both objectively and subjectively in context as a journey of interaction, dilemas, barriers to recovery and the power struggle facing people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. This book I feel is a response to the perceptions that some people hold about people with a diagnosis of mental illness. It serves to provide insight into the reality of mental illness and the reason and understanding that helps people to recover. This book represents my thoughts and feelings put into perspective. The values underpinning this book are of social justice in terms of: Empowerment Writer reader connection/empathy. Inspiring hope and optimism. Promoting recovery as a legitimate model of care. Challenging public perceptions of mental illness. Anyone with an interest in supporting people to be who they can be and not simply what others say they should be should read this book."