Recovery from Mental Illness as an Emergent Concept and Practice in Australia and the UK

• Published in: International journal of social psychiatry Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 108 - 122
• Main Authors: Ramon, Shulamit, Healy, Bill, Renouf, Noel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore SAGE Publications 01-03-2007; Sage; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Australia; Biological and medical sciences; Concepts; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Health care policy; Health Plan Implementation; Health Policy; Health research; Health services; Humans; Language; Language usage; Meaning; Medical sciences; Medical treatment; Mental disorders; Mental health; Mental health care; Mental health policy; Mental health services; Mental illness; Policy making; Prevention. Health policy. Planification; Prognosis; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; Psychotic Disorders - rehabilitation; Recovery; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizophrenia - rehabilitation; Schizophrenic Psychology; Social Adjustment; Social behaviour; Social psychiatry; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; Australia; Europe; Oceania; United Kingdom > UK; Concept; Social environment; Human; Terminology; Use; Mental health; Review; Case history; Health policy; Mental disorder; Remission; Public health; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0020-7640; 1741-2854
• DOI: 10.1177/0020764006075018

The language of recovery is now widely used in mental health policy, services, and research. Yet the term has disparate antecedents, and is used in a variety of ways. Some of the history of the use of the term recovery is surveyed, with particular attention to the new meaning of the term, especially as identified by service users, supported and taken up to various degrees by research and in the professional literature. Policy and practice in two countries – Australia and the United Kingdom – are examined to determine the manner and extent to which the concept of recovery is evident. In its new meaning, the concept of recovery has the potential to bring about profound and needed changes in mental health theory and practice. It is being taken up differently in different settings. It is clear that – at least in Australia and the United Kingdom – there are promising new recovery models and practices that support recovery, but the widespread use of recovery language is not enough to ensure that the core principles of the recovery model are implemented.