Mental Health Recovery in Social Psychiatric Policies: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis

The realisation of recovery as an overarching goal of mental health care services has proven difficult to achieve in practice. At present, concepts of recovery are contested and unclear, which affects their implementation in psychiatric practices. We examined social psychiatric policies about recovery with the aim to explore their underlying assumptions about recovery. Relevant texts from the policies’ knowledge bases were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. We developed a central theme: “A clinical standardisation of the concept of recovery”. The theme involved meaning clusters that encompassed conflicting and commonly shared assumptions about recovery across the text corpus. We discussed the findings from discourse analytical and governmentality perspectives. In conclusion, the policies’ aim of providing clarity about recovery was circumvented by the very knowledge bases used to support their endeavours.

[1]  Tore Dag Bøe,et al.  The Lost Social Context of Recovery Psychiatrization of a Social Process , 2022, Frontiers in Sociology.

[2]  M. Clarke,et al.  A qualitative study exploring personal recovery meaning and the potential influence of clinical recovery status on this meaning 20 years after a first-episode psychosis , 2021, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[3]  J. Damsgaard,et al.  Living a Meaningful Life While Struggling with Mental Health: Challenging Aspects Regarding Personal Recovery Encountered in the Mental Health System , 2021, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[4]  M. Norton,et al.  Social recovery: a new interpretation to recovery-orientated services – a critical literature review , 2020 .

[5]  Virginia Braun,et al.  One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? , 2020, Qualitative Research in Psychology.

[6]  Jeanette Praestegaard,et al.  The conditions of possibilities for recovery: A critical discourse analysis in a Danish psychiatric context. , 2020, Journal of clinical nursing.

[7]  B. A. Esbensen,et al.  Recovery‐oriented practice: Participant observations of the interactions between patients and health professionals in mental health inpatient settings , 2018, International journal of mental health nursing.

[8]  D. Roe,et al.  Personal recovery within positive psychiatry , 2018, Nordic journal of psychiatry.

[9]  B. A. Esbensen,et al.  Recovery orientation in mental health inpatient settings: Inpatient experiences? , 2018, International journal of mental health nursing.

[10]  S. Ramon.  The Place of Social Recovery in Mental Health and Related Services , 2018, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[11]  M. Slade,et al.  Empirical evidence about recovery and mental health , 2015, BMC Psychiatry.

[12]  J. Cook,et al.  A randomized controlled trial of effects of Wellness Recovery Action Planning on depression, anxiety, and recovery. , 2012, Psychiatric services.

[13]  B. Duncan.  The Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS): The Heart and Soul of Change Project , 2012 .

[14]  L. Davidson,et al.  What does recovery mean in practice? A qualitative analysis of international recovery-oriented practice guidance. , 2011, Psychiatric services.

[15]  M. Slade,et al.  Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health: systematic review and narrative synthesis , 2011, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[16]  M. Chernick,et al.  Randomized controlled trial of illness management and recovery in multiple-unit supportive housing. , 2009, Psychiatric services.

[17]  Durk Wiersma,et al.  Clinical Recovery in First-Episode Psychosis , 2008, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[18]  D. Penn,et al.  The Illness Management and Recovery program: rationale, development, and preliminary findings. , 2006, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[19]  J. Chamberlin,et al.  Implementing Recovery Oriented Evidence Based Programs: Identifying the Critical Dimensions , 2005, Community Mental Health Journal.

[20]  L. Davidson,et al.  Supported socialization for people with psychiatric disabilities: Lessons from a randomized controlled trial , 2004 .

[21]  M. Borg,et al.  Recovery-oriented professionals: Helping relationships in mental health services , 2004 .

[22]  William A. Anthony,et al.  Recovery from mental illness: The guiding vision of the mental health service system in the 1990s. , 1993 .

[23]  Steven J. Onken,et al.  An analysis of the definitions and elements of recovery: a review of the literature. , 2007, Psychiatric rehabilitation journal.

[24]  B. Cruikshank,et al.  The Will to Empower: Democratic Citizens and Other Subjects , 1999 .

[25]  J. Strauss,et al.  Subjective experiences of schizophrenia: toward a new dynamic psychiatry--II. , 1989, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[26]  V. Braun,et al.  Please Scroll down for Article Qualitative Research in Psychology Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology , 2022 .