Recovery in Mental Illness : Broadening Our Understanding of Wellness

In the early 20th century, when the course of serious illness was first described, scientists offered little hope of recovery for people diagnosed with illnesses like schizophrenia.

They were told to expect only continuing psychotic symptoms and progressive dementia and were given no hope of working and living independently.

Since then, research has suggested more positive outcomes.

In this volume, aimed at clinicians and advocates for the seriously mentally ill, Ruth O.

Ralph and Patrick W. Corrigan bring together the available data on the phenomenon of recovery and suggest that various degrees of recovery are more realistic than commonly thought.

Recovery in Mental Illness: Broadening our Understanding of Wellness explores what recovery means from various perspectives, including sociological models as well as qualitative studies that incorporate mental health consumers' subjective experiences. The mental health professional seeking to better understand the nature of recovery as well as what interventions and services might enhance well being and quality of life, will find a rich and nuanced discussion of recovery as process, outcome, and natural occurrence, and an examination of evidence-based services as well as consumer-endorsed practices that may not be measurable by traditional quantitative methodologies.

Researchers will be challenged to develop innovative approaches to studying this complex and exciting phenomenon.