• Login
    View Item 
    •   Athenaeum Home
    • BioMed Central Open Access Articles
    • Open Access Articles by UGA Faculty
    • View Item
    •   Athenaeum Home
    • BioMed Central Open Access Articles
    • Open Access Articles by UGA Faculty
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Understanding recovery in the context of lived experience of personality disorders: a collaborative, qualitative research study

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    12888_2015_Article_572.pdf (521.3Kb)
    Date
    2015-07-31
    Author
    Gillard, Steve
    Turner, Kati
    Neffgen, Marion
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Abstract Background Concepts of recovery increasingly inform the development and delivery of mental health services internationally. In the UK recent policy advocates the application of recovery concepts to the treatment of personality disorders. However diagnosis and understanding of personality disorders remains contested, challenging any assumption that mainstream recovery thinking can be directly translated into personality disorders services. Methods In a qualitative interview-based study understandings of recovery were explored in extended, in-depth interviews with six people purposively sampled from a specialist personality disorders’ service in the UK. An interpretive, collaborative approach to research was adopted in which university-, clinical- and service user (consumer) researchers were jointly involved in carrying out interviews and analysing interview data. Results Findings suggested that recovery cannot be conceptualised separately from an understanding of the lived experience of personality disorders. This experience was characterised by a complexity of ambiguous, interrelating and conflicting feelings, thoughts and actions as individuals tried to cope with tensions between internally and externally experienced worlds. Our analysis was suggestive of a process of recovering or, for some, discovering a sense of self that can safely coexist in both worlds. Conclusions We conclude that key facilitators of recovery – positive personal relationships and wider social interaction – are also where the core vulnerabilities of individuals with lived experience of personaility disorders can lie. There is a role for personality disorders services in providing a safe space in which to develop positive relationships. Through discursive practice within the research team understandings of recovery were co-produced that responded to the lived experience of personality disorders and were of applied relevance to practitioners.
    URI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0572-0
    http://hdl.handle.net/10724/32035
    Collections
    • Open Access Articles by UGA Faculty

    About Athenaeum | Contact Us | Send Feedback
     

     

    Browse

    All of AthenaeumCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    About Athenaeum | Contact Us | Send Feedback