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The concept of recovery and recovery-oriented services and practices are well advanced in some parts of the world, particularly in the US and New Zealand. This paper provides a review of the literature upon which the hope for recovery is based, and explores this concept in the UK context, where it is now gaining recognition. In so doing, it identifies the background to the development of a consciousness of a possibility of recovery (both with and without mental health services support) and addresses the issues raised by the self-fulfilling concept of chronicity. It further examines the questions of measuring recovery and understanding recovery as a process or goal. It then goes on to identify themes within recovery literature and research, and to focus on recovery skills and self-care strategies for people diagnosed with schizo-phrenia, psychoses, or other serious mental illnesses. The paper concludes by addressing issues that have implications for more effective policy and practice—most notably resolving the fundamental tension between involvement with and separation from services (a process which will require a better under-standing of the role of values in the relationship between those who use and those who provide services).
Allott et al. (2002) studied this question.