The disentanglement of the thicket
of thorny issues, associated with "recovery" from mental illness, is the crux of the riveting tome,
entitled Recovery In Mental Illness.

A duo of superbly skilled editors,
working in close tandem with a bevy of professionally accomplished
contributors, endeavor, assiduously, to penetrate the considerably-thick haze,
enveloping the hard-to-fathom research realm, of mental-illness recovery.  The textual body is infused with an
almost-palpably-visceral feeling of deep concern for persons with mental
illness.  And the very-well-written text
offers a rich profusion of interesting insights, suggests some tentative
answers, and, quite importantly, poses a plethora of seriously challenging
research questions.

  
Readers seeking to fathom some of the many profundities, enshrouding
mental-illness recovery, will likely be rewarded with trenchant feelings of
intellectual gratification.  At the
least, this engrossing book should intellectually arm the attentive reader with
a significantly-strengthened grasp of some of the myriad, complex issues and
controversies embedded in the still-fallow, research field of mental-illness
recovery.  The volume’s contributors
warrant many felicitations for their invaluable contribution to the still-sparse,
mental-health literature, ensconced in the particular sub-niche of recovery
from mental illness.

  
The over-arching intention of the book is to provide an instructive
overview of recovery, from mental illness, which may be of real assistance to
those seeking better understanding of this daunting domain.  Towards this end, the volume has been
structured as a collection of illumining articles; which, in a stylistic sense,
are generally academically arid in nature. 
An intellectually enriching multitude of academic references suffuse the
text; and embellish materially its research value.  The textual body is further populated with instructive tables and
figures.

  
Very importantly, the text’s expert dissection and examination of
variant perspectives, concerns, and conceptual models, relating to recovery
from mental illness, should spur the academically-vigorous reader to climb,
toilsomely, rung by rung, the quite-difficult ladder of learning, regarding
mental-illness recovery; and, hopefully, move beyond academic incognizance and
uncertainty to some relatively-higher level of clarity and understanding, with
respect to recovery from mental illness.

  
The textual body is trifurcated, into three parts.  Several definitional concepts of
"recovery", from mental illness, are delineated, adroitly, if
tersely, in part one, including mental-illness recovery as a:  naturally-occurring phenomenon, even if
bereft of treatment; a treatment-centric concept of recovery, encompassing
psychopharmacological treatment, and assorted psychosocial interventions; and a
conceptualization of recovery rooted, firmly, in the soil of hopefulness in
understanding mental illness.  Also
sewed, craftily, into the fabric of the book’s first part is a skillful, albeit
pithy, adumbration of multifarious research methods and strategies, germane to
an investigation of recovery from mental illness.  Tentacles of perspicacious discussion extend farther to measures
that may be utilized, potentially, for the pivotal purpose of gauging,
accurately, mental-illness recovery.

  
Part two, of this absorbing volume, painstakingly etches the lineaments
of sundry models, concerning recovery from mental illness.  Data, tethered to the course and outcome of
schizophrenia, are reviewed which, arguably, are supportive of the
conceptualization, of mental-illness recovery, as a naturally-occurring
phenomenon.  The possible impinging of
sociocultural factors, on the course and outcome of schizophrenia, is broached
also.  The contributors of another
chapter, again focusing on schizophrenia, covet the defining, of recovery, in
measurable terms.  A legion of factors,
associated potentially with advancing or else impeding recovery (encompassing
family-related factors, substance abuse, and neurocognitive-associated factors),
are reviewed.  Another chapter, in part
two, enriches an understanding of mental-illness recovery, from a sociologic
standpoint, by artfully weaving together strands of sociologic theories tied to
a fuller understanding of recovery from mental illness.  Also falling within the ambit of part two is
a thoughtful discourse appertaining to perhaps-disparate-yet-possibly-linked
verbal definitions and visual models possibly relevant to defining and
describing mental-illness recovery. 
Lastly, in the second part, there is a chapter expounding expertly on a
recovery-research approach, entailing in substance a qualitative-rooted
eliciting of the experiences of psychiatrically disabled persons.

  
The volume’s third part seeks to further sensitize the reader to the
potentially great usefulness of carefully viewing mental-illness recovery from
numerous perspectives.  The heart of one
chapter is the knotty relationship binding particular settings and the
understandings of individual persons concerning mental-illness recovery.  Particularly, the threads of the setting of
mutual-help groups are carefully separated and studied, in search of their
possible influence on the comprehension of individuals regarding recovery from
mental illness.  Recovery, in another
chapter, is eyed critically through the chilling prism of recovery from
physical and sexual-abuse trauma.  This
sobering chapter also describes concept mapping, as it relates to the
constructing of a conceptual framework pertinent to healing from abuse.  The respective recovery experiences from
addiction, and from psychiatric disabilities, are contrasted and compared,
interestingly, in the volume’s final chapter.

  
The content of this, overall, very-excellent book plainly reveal that
recovery from mental illness is a field fertile with ideas, concepts, and
views; rife with fractiousness; and quite lacking in definitive answers.  What, for instance, does it mean, exactly,
to "recover", from mental illness? 
There is, presently, a lack of consensus among investigators regarding
the proper defining, of mental-illness recovery, for research purposes.  Even if recovery can consensually be
defined, numerous other contentious questions abound.  For example, how should "recovery", for investigative
purposes, appropriately be measured?  If
recovery can be defined, and measured, consensually,how, in plain terms, do
people recover from mental illness?  And
what conditions and factors are possibly conducive, to mental-illness recovery?

  
To their considerable credit, the volume’s contributors doughtily tackle
the plainly evident contentiousness, seeping through the research-issues-ridden
terrain, of mental-illness recovery.   A
major strength of the book is that its contributors insistently, and helpfully,
focus sharp attention on myriad, unsettled questions of keen investigative
interest; while also exuding unyielding determination to add considerably more
flesh to the bones of the underfed research corpus, of mental-illness
recovery.  The informative analysis
contributed by various experts will, hopefully, function as a springboard, to
further, academically rigorous, mental-illness-recovery-related research.

  
The book is very highly recommended to researchers as well as clinicians
connected, in some professional capacity, to the issues-filled realm of
recovery from mental illness.

©
2005 Leo Uzych

Leo Uzych (based in Wallingford, PA) earned a law
degree, from Temple University; and a master of public health degree, from
Columbia University.  His area of
special professional interest is healthcare.

Categories: MentalHealth, Psychology