Recovery and medication

Recovery from serious mental illness has been described not as a "cure," but as a way of living a satisfying, hopeful, contributing life despite ongoing psychiatric disability or symptoms. Medication is an important issue for people as they think about recovery yet the relationship between the two has not been discussed that much. Researchers from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal discussed this issue with 60 service users. For them recovery meant:

• Finding a medication that works
• Taking medication in combination with services and supports
• Complying with medication
• Having a say about medication
• Living without medication

The service users wanted to be able to communicate their concerns around medication, be supported in developing self-management strategies and have more collaborative relationships with service providers.

Piat, Myra, Sabetti, Judith and Bloom, David - The importance of medication in consumer definitions of recovery from serious mental illness: a qualitative study Issues in Mental Health Nursing 30(8), 482-490