Chapter 3 Slade

Question 1

What is the core message of the authors?

Answer 1

A new understanding of recovery should be adopted: personal recovery, which should be embraced as the primary goal of mental health services

Question 2

What are the 4 key features of clinical recovery?

Answer 2

1. It is an outcome or a state, generally dichotomous
2. It is observable – in clinical parlance, it is objective, not subjective
3. It is rated by the expert clinician, not the patient
4. The definition of recovery is invariant across individuals.

Question 3

What are the authors’ arguments in favor of personal recovery?

Answer 3

• not one approach fits everyone and worked for everyone (also the same model may not work for the same person in a different moment in time): an individual/holistic approach is needed
• a primary focus on personal recovery (there cannot be a single recovery model for services)
  would fundamentally change the values, goals, and working practices of mental health
  services –> Clinical recovery is subordinate to personal recovery
• Personal recovery has high ecological validity – it emerges from the narratives of people with mental illness who describe themselves as recovered or in recovery.
• clinical recovery may be hindering personal recovery in three domains: hope, meaning and symptoms