Provided by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Surgeon General of the United States of America
Chapter 2
Overview of Recovery
Until recently, some severe mental disorders were generally
considered to be marked by lifelong deterioration. Schizophrenia, for instance,
was seen by the mental health profession as having a uniformly downhill course
(Harding et al., 1992). At the beginning of the 20th century, the leading
psychiatrist of the era, Emil Kraepelin, judged the outcome of schizophrenia to
be so dismal that he named the disorder “dementia praecox,” or premature
dementia. Negative conceptions of severe mental illness, perpetuated in
textbooks for decades by Kraepelin’s original writings, dampened consumers’ and
families’ expectations, leaving them without hope. A turnabout in attitudes came
as a result of the consumer movement and self-help activities. They mobilized a
shift toward a more positive set of consumer attitudes and self-perceptions.
Research provided a scientific basis for and supported a more optimistic view of
the possibility of recovering function (Harding et al., 1992). Promoting
recovery became a rallying point and common ground for the consumer and family
movements (Frese, 1998).
The concept of recovery is having substantial impact on consumers and families,
mental health research, and service delivery. Before describing that impact,
this section first turns to an introduction and definitions.
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