Anger, Activism and Recovery: A recovery-oriented overview of the psychiatric survivor movement

The paper addresses the role and importance of anger, activism and the psychiatric survivor movement in people's recovery, and speaks to the inter-relationship between the survivor movement and the development of the recovery phenomenon. The paper makes the point that the survivor movement's emphases on self-help, self determination, rights education/advocacy, empowerment and a caring community provided the bedrock and the motivational spirit for what is now conceptualized as the recovery movement. The paper directly links the survivor movement with recovery as a paradigm shift, at the same time as it asks whether this link will result in increased influence and economic security for survivor driven recovery-oriented programs. The paper also addresses the necessity of professionals and policy-makers recognizing the primacy of survivors within a recovery process and supporting their autonomous role in service provision. And, it posits the necessity of sustained survivor activism for recovery-oriented reforms to occur. The recovery model is generating a lot of excitement in the community mental health field. Psychiatric consumer/survivors such as Pat Deegan & Mary Ellen Copeland have become recovery experts, and are leading the field with their highly original approaches on recovery. However, they are just two prominent actors in a broad political movement that is rich in humanity and creativity, and that one way or another has always been about recovery. That movement goes back to the early seventies starting in the Bay Area and New York; known then as the ex-patient movement, it is now generally known as the psychiatric survivor movement. The early survivor movement was a way for people to channel their anger and frustration with psychiatry and their experiences of abuse and social control. However, the movement did not get stuck in an adversarial role. The survivor movement also played a crucial role in creating the conditions that gave rise to the recovery model (which is based on statistical evidence that a significant percentage of people with serious mental health problems can, and do recover). The survivor movement’s ideas and demands on self-help, self-determination, human rights, advocacy and a caring community were expounded as early as 1971, and these ideas are now treated as some of the key principles and provisions of a recovery approach. Essentially, without a survivor movement, the recovery model would likely not be unfolding before us as a paradigm shift in our field.