title: Investigating the Lived Experience of Recovery in People Who Hear Voices.
abstract: Although there is evidence of both clinical and personal recovery from distressing voices, the process of recovery over time is unclear. Narrative inquiry was used to investigate 11 voice-hearers' lived experience of recovery. After a period of despair/exhaustion, two recovery typologies emerged: (a) turning toward/empowerment, which involved developing a normalized account of voices, building voice-specific skills, integration of voices into daily life, and a transformation of identity, and (b) turning away/protective hibernation, which involved harnessing all available resources to survive the experience, with the importance of medication in recovery being emphasized. Results indicated the importance of services being sensitive and responsive to a person's recovery style at any given time and their readiness for change. Coming to hold a normalized account of voice-hearing and the self and witnessing of preferred narratives by others were essential in the more robust turning toward recovery typology.
authors.affiliation: The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia adej7936@uni.sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Adèle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Jager
authors.affiliation: The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.affiliation: Australian College of Applied Psychology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Beavan
authors.affiliation: St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McCabe
authors.affiliation: Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McCarthy-Jones
authors.affiliation: University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lampshire
authors.affiliation: The University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayward
mesh_terms: D006212:Hallucinations; D006801:Humans; D033262:Narration; D011209:Power, Psychological; D014831:Voice
keywords: illness and disease, experiences; interviews, semistructured; mental health and illness; narrative inquiry; psychology; qualitative; recovery; schizophrenia; stories / storytelling