personal recovery lec 2 Flashcards
what are the two meanings of the word recovery?
- Clinical recovery: the observable, professionally determined outcomes
- Personal recovery: self-reported and focuses on leading a meaningful life despite symptoms
according to the paper, which one should mental health services prioritize?
personal recovery
Clinical recovery four key features?
- It is an outcome or a state, generally dichotomous
- It is observable – in clinical parlance, it is objective, not subjective
- It is rated by the expert clinician, not the patient
- The definition of recovery is invariant across individuals.
what did Long-Term Follow-Up Studies on schizophrenia show? (3)
- challenge outdated assumptions that schizophrenia is inevitably chronic and deteriorating, with many individuals improving significantly
- highlighted the importance of social, psychological, and environmental factors in shaping recovery trajectories
- reinforces the argument that mental health services should prioritize personal recovery over purely clinical recovery, as it may not reflect the lived experience of individuals
4 key elements of personal recovery?
- hope
- identity
- meaning
- personal responsibility
origins of personal recovery?
emerged from the lived experiences of individuals with mental illness who choose to write about their experiences
descriptions of personal recovery? 5
- Recovery is seen as a journey rather than an end goal
- personal recovery is an individual process -> it’s about growth and active coping
- Recovery is not the same as cure
- Recovery requires hope and means reclaiming a positive sense of self
- Recovery is nonlinear—relapses do not mean failure
advantages personal recovery? (3)
- High Ecological Validity
- Removes Harmful Evaluations (since it is self-defined and individualized)
- Supports Autonomy and Self-Determination
challenges of personal recovery?
- Difficult to Measure
- Not Easily Operationalized
- Contradicts Traditional Clinical Models
Are Clinical and Personal Recovery Incompatible?
- Not all authors identify two meanings of recovery (Ruth Ralph and Patrick
Corrigan three definitions of recovery: spontaneous, treatment-assisted, and hopeful perspective) - Mental health professionals tend to prioritize clinical recovery, while consumers focus on personal recovery
clinical recovery and hope? 3
- Hope is essential for recovery, as it fosters motivation and resilience
- Mental health services often fail to nurture hope, instead reinforcing low expectations
- Some professionals unintentionally harm recovery by discouraging aspirations like employment or independent living
Clinical Recovery and Meaning?
- Finding meaning in one’s experience is central to recovery
- People with mental illness develop personal explanations for their experiences, including:
- life history
- medical
- spiritual
- social narratives
- Mental health services should support individuals in constructing their own meaning rather than imposing a singular explanation
Clinical Recovery and Symptoms?
- Clinical recovery prioritizes symptom elimination, whereas personal recovery may involve living well despite symptoms
- Medication is not always effective, and strict adherence to symptom reduction can lead to coercion
- Some individuals find meaning or personal growth in their symptoms
Five justifications for the prioritization of personal recovery over clinical recovery in mental health services?
- Epistemological – Personal recovery values lived experience
- Ethical – Professionals should not dictate recovery goals
- Effectiveness – Medications do not always lead to full recovery
- Empowerment – Services have historically disempowered individuals
- Policy-based – Recovery-oriented approaches align with national policies
what are the 5 aims of recovery oriented assessment (intake interview)?
- Promote and validate the development of personal meaning
- Amplify strengths rather than deficits
- Foster personal responsibility rather than passive compliance
- Support the development of a positive identity rather than an illness identity
- Develop hopefulness rather than hopelessness
What are the 4 types of meaning we need?
- purpose: we need present events that draw meaning from their connection with future events
- values: we need values that lend a sense of goodness or positivity to life, that can justify certain courses of actions. we need a reason to do what we do
- efficacy: we need a belief that one can make a difference
- self worth: we need reasons fro believing one is a good, worthy person
what are the 2 sub-types of the purpose type of meaning?
- goals: we need an objective outcome, such as job promotion, having a child etc
- fulfilments: we need a subjective anticipated state of future fulfilment, like being in love, going to heaven, being happy
how can you help the client develop the purpose type of meaning? including the 2 subtypes
- general: listen for personal meaning & meaning-making approaches in past and current events
- goals subtype: identify personal goals, provide goal-setting and goal striving support. faciliate access to mainstream opportunities (employment, education, leisure, social)
- fulfilments subtype: encourage optimism and hopefulness. ask future-oriented questions - “where would you like to be in 5 years”, “how can i support you to work towards that dream”
how can you help the client develop the values type of meaning?
- support spiritual development by faciliating access to religious, faith, humanist, cultural or political groups
- avoid undermining the individuals values by imposing personal or porfessional values
how can you help the client develop the efficacy type of meaning?
- identify & amplify times of well being, when person showed mastery and coped with unanticipated difficulties
- plan ahead
- identify personal & social resources
- support the dev of crisis plans
how can you help the client develop the self worth type of meaning?
- actively enourage the person to take on “giving back” roles (voluntary work, co running a group, writing about their experiences, becoming a peer mentor etc)
- foster affiliation with high status groups
how can you improve stigmatizing views about mental illness?
by improving cultural competence (working w ppl without imposing culture based filter of meaning on the interaction)
cultural principles
- therapy is a cross cultural enterprise
- becoming culturally competent is a process not an end point
- need to be aware of personal cultural filters
- group specific info can be used for exploring invidiual experiences
- need to be aware of & challenge stereotypes
what is the process of integration of mental illness into personal identity like?
- starts w a quest for direct meaning (making sense of what has been, and is, happening)
the therapist:
1. collects info to offer a clinical perspective & develops treatment goals
2. should be tentative about offering diagnosis (since it shouldnt be seen as “the” the answer)
3. be willing to accept that clinical explanations could not be helpful for every person, they need to find their own way of integrating the illness
what are 3 approaches to understand experiences of psychosis?
- find specific & concrete meanings (listening without filtering through a clinical model to understand context, like did this actually happened in some sense?)
- understand metaphoric or thermatic associations (follow the feelings or themes in the psychotic experience)
- understand the peurpose & significant of an individuals elaboration of their pyshocsis (focus on maintaining factors rather than etiology)