Full recovery seems possible and would depend on treatment. The revolutionary promise of open dialogue

Abstract

We present an important advance in psychiatry regarding the phenomenon of recovery. Comparative studies between Open Dialogue (OD) and current treatments of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses point to an important difference in short and long-term results in favor of this approach developed in Western Lapland. This suggests that OD treatment enhances durable recovery. The prognosis of recovery would depend mainly on the treatment received, and would not be necessarily partial or dependent on a mysterious personal quality. We emphasize the consequent epistemological change regarding the recovery and the official view of the problems in mental health. To do this, we briefly recount the concept of recovery, originating in North America in the 1970s, also based on its influence in the countries of Europe, particularly Switzerland, based on the work of a group of user associations and former users of psychiatry, families and social and mental health professionals (Le GREPSY). Traditionally recovery is a controversial issue, which has generated tension and conflict between patients and psychiatry. The Open Dialogue also provides a satisfactory solution, working at a “higher level”, where the options concerning the treatment are decided in a real collaboration.