As recovery follows a unique path for each individual, it is not suprising that we find different perspectives on what the definition of recovery is. However it can be seen that important common themes run through both the theories and the life experiences:-
"Recovery is a journey as much as a destination. - It is different for everyone. For some people with mental illness, recovery is a road they travel on only once or twice, to a destination that is relatively easy to find. For others, recovery is a maze with an elusive destination, a maze that takes a lifetime to navigate.
Recovery is happening when people can live well in the presence or absence of their mental illness - and the many losses that may come in its wake, such as isolation, poverty, unemployment, and discrimination. Recovery does not always mean that people will return to full health or retrieve all their losses, but it does mean that people can live well in spite of them.
Some people have experienced recovery without using mental health services. Others have experienced recovery in spite of them. But most will do much better if services are designed and delivered to facilitate their recovery. Virtually everything the mental health sector does can either assist or impede recovery."
"Recovery is a process, not a place. - It is about recovering what was lost: rights, roles, responsibilities, decisions, potential and support. It is not about symptom elimination, but about what an individual wants, how s/he can get there, and how others can help/support them to get there. It is about rekindling hope for a productive present and a rewarding future - and believing that one deserves it.
Recovery involves people having a personal vision of the life they want to live, seeing and changing patterns, discovering symptoms can be managed and doing it, finding new ways and reasons, doing more of what works and less of what doesn't. Recovery is about reclaiming the roles of a "healthy" person, rather than a "sick" person. Recovery is about getting there." - Laurie Curtis (1998)
"Recovery is, in part, emerging from an individual, rather than being imposed upon an individual. - The goal of recovery is to meet the challenge of the disability and to re-establish a new and valued sense of integrity and purpose within and beyond the limits of disability. The aspiration is to live, work, and love in a community in which one makes a significant contribution." - Patricia Deegan (1997)
"Recovery is a deeply personal, unique process of changing one's attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills, and/or roles. - It, is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life even with the limitations caused by illness. Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one's life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness." - (Anthony, 1993).
"Recovery means, simply, that a person's life - is no longer being consumed by mental illness" (Tanzman, 1996).
And further:
"No one can make another person recover: - Caring others, well-intended helpers, and service providers can help to spark, nurture, and fuel the embers of recovery that burn in each person. - Service providers must be cautious about "recovery programs". Recovery-supporting policies and practices cannot simply be tacked on to existing programs and services. Supporting the recovery of others means fundamentally doing differently that which we do every day" (Curtis, 1997).
More Recovery Definitions
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