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The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health pp 109–127Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Diverse Approaches to Recovery from Severe Mental Illness

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Abstract

Recovery is an individual process that involves living a satisfying life even with limitations caused by mental illness (Anthony 1993). In this chapter, the authors discuss the conceptualization and implementation of recovery in three case studies from the USA, New Zealand, and Nigeria. In all three cases, recovery is facilitated by (1) ensuring that people with mental illness can fully participate and thrive within their respective societies; (2) diminishing barriers to social inclusion and full citizenship at individual, familial and community levels; and (3) reforming mental health services to be humane, empowering and holistic. This chapter demonstrates that the recovery model provides scaffolding to give shape to reform of mental health services, while allowing flexibility for adaptation to local circumstances and values.

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Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge Mary O’Hagan for her feedback on the New Zealand portion of this chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

    Heather M. Aldersey

  2. McGill University, Montréal, Canada

    Ademola B. Adeponle

  3. Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Canada

    Robert Whitley

Authors
  1. Heather M. Aldersey
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  2. Ademola B. Adeponle
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  3. Robert Whitley
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Health and Society University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ross G. White

  2. School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Sumeet Jain

  3. Department of Social Work and Social Care, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

    David M.R. Orr

  4. CERMES3, Paris, France

    Ursula M. Read

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Aldersey, H.M., Adeponle, A.B., Whitley, R. (2017). Diverse Approaches to Recovery from Severe Mental Illness. In: White, R., Jain, S., Orr, D., Read, U. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39510-8_6

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