Key Concepts

Question:

Disucss about the Clinical Recovery and Mental Health.

Introduction- Mental health recovery can be defined as the journey which involves transformation and healing of a person with mental health problems, thereby enabling him to lead a peaceful life in the community, while striving to achieve full potential. A recovery from mental disorder therefore helps these people to improve their health and wellness (Dihoff & Weaver, 2012). It also provides an opportunity to live a self directed life. Stigma and social attitudes to mental disorders impose restrictions on people who experience ill health (Mead & Copeland, 2000).

Key concepts- There are certain fundamental concepts that facilitate easy recovery of mental patients. Several internal and external conditions such as hope, healing, connection, empowerment, positive culture of healing help in ensuring that the services are supporting recovery of the consumers. The key elements are as follows:

Hope- Mental health recovery provides the concerned patients with a motivating and essential message that helps them dream of a better future (Tew et al., 2012). The message helps them hope that he will be successful in overcoming the barriers and limitations can that they confront in daily life. Learning and unconscious assimilation influence hopes (Mead & Copeland, 2000). However, it can also be fostered by family, peers, friends, healthcare providers and other members of the community. Thus, hope acts as a catalyst in accelerating the recovery process.

Responsibility- It acts as one of the key concepts in mental recovery. It involves taking actions that help the person to take control of their lives and gives them the authority to select from a range of options that help in their recovery. They take responsibility of their self-car and recovery journey (Mead & Copeland, 2000). It requires enormous courage to work towards their goals. They strive to learn coping strategies that accelerates the healing process.

Education- It acts as a vehicle that focuses on interconnectedness of the spirit, mind, body and the community. They accelerate the recovery process by broadening the social, intellectual and emotional horizons of the mentally challenged people (Slade et al., 2014). They provide opportunities to expand the knowledge and skills. Education services help the concerned people to engage in mutual relationship with good learning outcomes (Geenen et al., 2015). They also work towards abolishing any prejudice or discrimination associated with mental illness.

Self-advocacy- It is defined as the empowerment of individuals who suffer from mental health problems. It provides them with the authority to select treatment methods from a range of options and also allows them to participate in the decision making process (Pickett et al., 2012). The people acquire the ability to join other consumers and are able to speak for themselves about their desires, wants, needs and aspirations (Sklar, Groessl, O’Connell, Davidson & Aarons, 2013). This empowerment helps gain control of their fate.

Hope

Support- Mutual support focuses on sharing of experiential skills and knowledge that are related to social learning (Chinman et al., 2014). This support plays a crucial role in the recovery process. The consumers are encouraged to engage other patients or mentally disabled people in the recovery process and they provide each other with a feeling of belonging (Corrigan, Kosyluk & Rüsch, 2013). The family also provides the much needed support to people living with mental illness and assists those people to live and work successfully in the community.

Clinical versus Personal recovery- The concepts of clinical and personal recovery often overlap. Clinical recovery refers to the idea that focuses on the concept of emergence of an idea from the expertise of mental health professionals, such as, psychiatrists and psychologists. It involves the process of getting rid of the symptoms of mental disorder. This works towards restoration of social functioning and helps the person to return to normal life (Sabin, Stuber, Rocha & Greenwald, 2015). Thus, in clinical recovery, the disorder is diagnosed and treated by professionals in order to reduce the symptoms and cure the consumers. On the other hand, personal recovery illustrates the concept that people who have experienced mental illness result in emergence of an idea. Thus, this form of recovery leads the mentally disabled people to a journey that helps them live a meaningful life. It also helps in valuing their roles (Milbourn, McNamara & Buchanan, 2014). Thus, this kind of recovery encompasses a personal and unique method of altering the values, attitudes, goals, feelings and skills of the consumers. It facilitates the process of obtaining a satisfying and contributing life.

Development of recovery- The notion that recovery is not possible for people living with mental illness was prevalent for many years, which resulted in institutionalizing people and isolating them from their community. Mental illness recovery was underpinned by the negative beliefs related to poor prognosis and discrimination (Hall, Wren & Kirby, 2013). The recovery movement began in the United States, in the early 1970s when people started writing accounts and experiences of their mental illness. This led to the development of frameworks in clinical setting that reinforced the concept of psychiatric rehabilitation of the mentally disabled people (Kidd, McKenzie & Virdee, 2014).

Thus, the main impetus for recovery model development was related to the survivor movement. The concept of recovery soon reached New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. The Mental Patient’s Association in Vancouver helped in building drop-in centers and provided residential assistance to mental health consumers, which increased the focus on recovery programs (Gehart, 2012). The development of coherent and rigorous recovery policies in New Zealand was influenced by the interaction of psychiatric survivors with the organizations of the U.K. and the United States.

Responsibility

Lived experiences- People with lived experience are employed in roles that help them to identify mental health challenges owing to their first-hand experience of mental health discrimination and recovery (Perlman et al., 2017). Thus, lived experience helps in applying the learning and knowledge that the consumers have gained through self-experience (Light et al., 2014).

These lived experiences help to support other consumers in their recovery process, increase their self-determination and enables improvement of mental wellbeing. In other words, they help in building the resilience and strength of the consumers by forming a supportive network (Solomon & Gioia, 2016). Therefore, lived experience improves social work practice and enhances the recovery of mental health consumers by increasing their expertise.

To conclude, it can be stated that mental health recovery involves making choices that provide emotional and physical support to the mentally challenged people in order to increase their wellbeing. It focuses on engaging them in meaningful activities and building social networks and relationships. Thus, they are able to lead a stable and safe life.

References

Chinman, M., George, P., Dougherty, R. H., Daniels, A. S., Ghose, S. S., Swift, A., & Delphin-Rittmon, M. E. (2014). Peer support services for individuals with serious mental illnesses: assessing the evidence. Psychiatric Services, 65(4), 429-441. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201300244

Corrigan, P. W., Kosyluk, K. A., & Rüsch, N. (2013). Reducing self-stigma by coming out proud. American journal of public health, 103(5), 794-800. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301037

Dihoff, D. G., & Weaver, M. (2012). Mental health recovery. Mental Health, 73(3). Retrieved from: https://classic.ncmedicaljournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/NCMJ_73314_FINAL.pdf

Geenen, S., Powers, L. E., Phillips, L. A., Nelson, M., McKenna, J., Winges-Yanez, N., … & Swank, P. (2015). Better Futures: A randomized field test of a model for supporting young people in foster care with mental health challenges to participate in higher education. The journal of behavioral health services & research, 42(2), 150-171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-014-9451-6

Gehart, D. R. (2012). The Mental Health Recovery Movement and Family Therapy, Part I: Consumer?Led Reform of Services to Persons Diagnosed with Severe Mental Illness. Journal of marital and family therapy, 38(3), 429-442. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00230.x

Hall, A., Wren, M., & Kirby, S. (Eds.). (2013). Care planning in mental health: Promoting recovery. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DehvAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA17&dq=Care+Planning+in+Mental+Health+:+Promoting+Recovery+(Hall,+Wren+%26+Kirby,+2013)&ots=F2X0S_oDHg&sig=4ZMP4GkVF6uJbeEfmDaCj_D6zU0#v=onepage&q=Care%20Planning%20in%20Mental%20Health%20%3A%20Promoting%20Recovery%20(Hall%2C%20Wren%20%26%20Kirby%2C%202013)&f=false

Kidd, S. A., McKenzie, K. J., & Virdee, G. (2014). Mental health reform at a systems level: widening the lens on recovery-oriented care. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 59(5), 243-249. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371405900503

Light, E. M., Robertson, M. D., Boyce, P., Carney, T., Rosen, A., Cleary, M., … & Kerridge, I. H. (2014). The lived experience of involuntary community treatment: a qualitative study of mental health consumers and carers. Australasian Psychiatry, 22(4), 345-351. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856214540759

Mead, S., & Copeland, M. E. (2000). What recovery means to us: Consumers’ perspectives. Community mental health journal, 36(3), 315-328. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1001917516869

Milbourn, B. T., McNamara, B. A., & Buchanan, A. J. (2014). Do the everyday experiences of people with severe mental illness who are “hard to engage” reflect a journey of personal recovery?. Journal of Mental Health, 23(5), 241-245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3109/09638237.2014.951485

Perlman, D., Patterson, C., Moxham, L., Taylor, E. K., Brighton, R., Sumskis, S., & Heffernan, T. (2017). Understanding the influence of resilience for people with a lived experience of mental illness: A self?determination theory perspective. Journal of Community Psychology, 45(8), 1026-1032. DOI: 10.1002/jcop.21908

Pickett, S. A., Diehl, S. M., Steigman, P. J., Prater, J. D., Fox, A., Shipley, P., … & Cook, J. A. (2012). Consumer empowerment and self-advocacy outcomes in a randomized study of peer-led education. Community Mental Health Journal, 48(4), 420-430. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-012-9507-0

Sabin, J. A., Stuber, J., Rocha, A., & Greenwald, A. (2015). Providers’ Implicit and Explicit Stereotypes About Mental Illnesses and Clinical Competencies in Recovery. Social Work in Mental Health, 13(5), 495-513. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2015.1008170

Sklar, M., Groessl, E. J., O’Connell, M., Davidson, L., & Aarons, G. A. (2013). Instruments for measuring mental health recovery: a systematic review. Clinical psychology review, 33(8), 1082-1095. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2013.08.002

Slade, M., Amering, M., Farkas, M., Hamilton, B., O’Hagan, M., Panther, G., … & Whitley, R. (2014). Uses and abuses of recovery: implementing recovery?oriented practices in mental health systems. World Psychiatry, 13(1), 12-20. DOI: 10.1002/wps.20084

Solomon, P., & Gioia, D. (2016). A shift in thinking: The influence of the recovery process on social work research. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 7(2), 203-210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/686769

Tew, J., Ramon, S., Slade, M., Bird, V., Melton, J., & Le Boutillier, C. (2012). Social factors and recovery from mental health difficulties: a review of the evidence. The British Journal of Social Work, 42(3), 443-460. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr07