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Recovery networks and patient interpretations of mental illness
Author(s) -
Thompson Edward H.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(198901)17:1<5::aid-jcop2290170103>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - mental illness , psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , mental health
This study examined young adult chronic patients' interpretations of the cause, severity, and prognosis of mental illness. Findings fail to support fully the hypothesis that changes in the service delivery system have encouraged patients to conceptualize psychiatric disorders in sickness terms. Nearly two thirds of the patients rejected the etiological opinion that psychiatric problems are involuntary illnesses. They also regarded psychiatric disorders as serious but assigned them an optimistic prognosis. Structural factors continue to play an important role in patients' views, yet the professional and lay recovery networks operate differently for perceptions of severity, cause, and curability.