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Background: The literature on antipsychotic medication in psychosis lack systematization of the empirical knowledge base on patients' subjective experiences of using antipsychotic drugs. Such investigations are pivotal to inform large-scale trials with clinically relevant hypotheses and to illuminate clinical implications for different sub-groups of individuals. Aims: To re-analyze and summarize existing qualitative research literature on patient perspectives of using antipsychotic medication. Method: A systematic literature search was performed in September 2018 (Protocol registration no. CRD42017074394). Using an existing framework of meta-analyzing qualitative research, full text evaluation was conducted for 41 articles. Thirty-two articles were included for the final synthesis. Results: Four meta-themes were identified: (1) short-term benefits; (2) adverse effects and coping processes; (3) surrender and autonomy; (4) long-term compromise of functional recovery. Conclusions: While largely positive about acute and short-term use, patients are more skeptical about using antipsychotic drugs in the longer term. The latter specifically relates to processes of functional and social recovery. The clinical conversations about antipsychotic medication need to include evaluations of contexts of patient experience level, patient autonomy processes, patient values and risk preferences, and patient knowledge and knowledge needs in addition to assessing the severity of symptoms of psychosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social factors seem to play an important role in people's recovery processes, yet little attention has been given to such aspects in relation to early psychosis. In this study, we explored how young adults with first episode psychosis experienced relationships inside and outside the mental healthcare services related to their early recovery processes. We interviewed ten young adults who had been in contact with an early detection team for psychosis. The analysis involved thematic and reflexive team-based methods and drew on hermeneutic–phenomenological perspectives. We identified two themes concerning relationships with professionals: 1) being seen as a unique person with preferences and 2) getting help when you are lost. We came across three additional themes, this time, in relation to family and friends: 3) supportive family networks, 4) they cannot understand everything, and 5) different kinds of friendships. Our findings revealed that people both within and outside mental healthcare services were seen as essential (for better or worse) and often played complementary roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the lived experience of hospitalisation from the perspective of people with a mental health disorder. This hermeneutic‐phenomenological study, which forms part of a larger qualitative serial inquiry, uses a participatory research design, with analysis inspired by interpretative phenomenological analysis. Fourteen participants were interviewed twice: first during hospitalisation and then again 3 months following hospital discharge. Findings are reported from the entire interview data set. Our findings suggest that mental health hospitalisation is a contradictory experience for patients. On one hand, our study participants experienced the hospital as a place where it is alright to be vulnerable, while on the other hand participants experienced hospitalisation as a burden of everyday stigma and signs of depersonalisation. We conclude that it is important to recognise that patients in need of inpatient treatment for mental illnesses are, in fact, people first and foremost. More reflective practice can be developed by shifting the focus to recovery‐oriented practices to and open dialogue‐based approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pharmacological interventions are viewed as central to clinical work with people diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But what is the meaning of medicine? How do clinicians view the role of medication in recovery processes in bipolar disorder? The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of experienced therapists regarding the role of medicine in the treatment of people with bipolar disorder. Methods: In a Norwegian specialist mental health care setting, we conducted 12 semi‐structured individual interviews with experienced therapists and analysed the resulting transcripts using a team‐based thematic analysis method. Findings: We identified four themes: (a) the bedrock of therapy; (b) an imperfect answer and a dangerous tool; (c) the hallmark of insight; and (d) negotiating medicine, negotiating meaning. Conclusion: We relate our findings to the shortcomings of the dominant medical model and argue that a recovery perspective can be a helpful tool for counsellors and psychotherapists in understanding the meaning of medicine for people with bipolar disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies address the many challenges that are faced by staff and patients in the inpatient mental health context. In particular, there is a lack of research that explores first-hand patient experiences in order to establish what treatment practices best assist patient recovery and what are the barriers to these practices. This qualitative study, which utilises a user-involved research framework, collaborates with a co-researcher patient group throughout the study. Fourteen patients, all of whom had been in inpatient treatment for at least three weeks, were recruited to the study. Study participants were interviewed in-depth in the period September 2016 to March 2017. Data underwent a thematic analysis that was inspired by interpretative phenomenological analysis. A core theme of the findings was the importance of being recognised as a whole person, and the patient–professional relationship was regarded as a fundamental factor in fostering recovery, with two underlying themes: (i) a need to have one's self-identity recognised and supported, and (ii) an experience of ambivalence between needing closeness and distance. This study suggests ways nurses can give priority to interpersonal interactions and relationships with hospitalised patients over task-oriented duties, highlighting the need for nurses to balance patient competing needs for both closeness and distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, there has been a sharp division between 'personal' and 'clinical' recovery. What role, then, might therapy play in personal recovery? To explore how female adult trauma survivors experience working towards recovery after participation in trauma-specific group therapy, we carried out semi-structured qualitative interviews with 13 clients one year after their completion of a stabilization group approach. A hermeneutic-phenomenological approach was used to analyze interview transcripts. After therapy, the participants consolidated and continued their positive processes of change. Experiences from therapy gave rise to personal recovery processes that were categorized into two main themes: "tapping into pre-therapy resources" and "using therapy-related resources." Therapy might play an important role in personal recovery through helping clients to rediscover and utilize existing resources, as well as being a source of new resources. The participants were active agents in this recovery, putting their therapies to use in the context of their daily living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is lack of long-term controlled studies evaluating treatment effects of antipsychotic medication. A complete investigation should include the service user perspective. Aims: To investigate experiences of clinically recovered service users of antipsychotic medications during and after a first episode of psychosis. Method: We used a thematic analytic approach within an interpretative-phenomenological framework. 20 clinically recovered service users were interviewed. Results: Themes: (1) Antipsychotic drugs reduce mental chaos during the acute phase, (2) Non-stigmatizing environments were perceived to increase chances of successful use, (3) Antipsychotic drugs beyond the acute phase – considered to compromise the contribution of individual effort in recovery, (4) Prolonged use – perceived to reduce likelihood of functional recovery, (5) Antipsychotic medication was considered as a supplement to trustful relationships. Conclusions: Acute phase antipsychotic treatment was mostly perceived as advantageous by this sample, who was in clinical recovery. However, costs were often seen as outweighing benefits beyond the acute stage. Findings clearly emphasize the need for a collaborative approach to be integrated across all phases of care. This study underscores the need to investigate sub-group differences with regard to long-term antipsychotic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being in recovery from bipolar disorder involves work-related concerns. The specific aims of this study are to: 1) understand the role of work in recovery from bipolar disorders, and 2) understand how people with such disorders deal with work-related challenges. These topics are examined from the stance of the recovery process, in which work-related activities were explored. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with persons who had experienced recovery from bipolar disorder. Analysis was performed through thematic and phenomenological analysis, with hermeneutic phenomenology and reflexive methodology as a framework. The findings are presented through the following themes: 1) many types of work – finding meaning and a focus; 2) helpful roles and contexts – to be much more than a person with an illness; 3) making work possible – the role of supportive relationships and supportive medications, and 4) the costs of working too much – finding a meaningful and healthy balance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]