I specialeafhandlingen undersøges psykologiske og sundhedsfremmende implikationer for, hvorledes recoveryprocesser opleves hos brugere med psykiske udfordringer. Recovery er en efterhånden udbredt orientering i psykiatriske praksisser. Recovery oversættes på dansk med ‘at komme sig’, og hensigten hermed er, at brugeren sættes i centrum for sin egen recoveryproces. Forskning viser, at der eksisterer forskellige sundhedsforståelser. Dette udmønter sig i forskellige tilgange til, hvorledes brugeren kommer sig, samt forskellige definitioner af hvad recovery indebærer, og hvordan der arbejdes med recovery i praksis. Specialet tager udgangspunkt i en problematisering af, hvordan disse konfliktuerende betingelser influerer på brugeres oplevelser af recoveryprocessen. Der spørges derfor til, hvorledes der er mulighed for, at den enkelte bruger kan udleve og finde mening i sin personlige vej til recovery. Dette søges besvaret ved at undersøge, hvorledes brugeren skabes og skaber sig selv gennem recoveryprocessen. Brugernes narrativer om egne erfarede recoveryprocesser er genstand for analysen. Specialets empiriske materiale konstrueres derfor gennem kvalitative interviews med seks brugere, der befinder sig i en selvdefineret recoveryproces, samt to interviews med en underviser på et recoverykursus og en recoverykonsulent. Den metodologiske fremgangsmåde funderes i en videnskabsteoretisk tilgang mellem socialkonstruktivismen og hermeneutikken. Med en abduktiv tilgang tages der udgangspunkt i de empiriske forhold, som efterfølgende belyses i samspil med det valgte teoretiske begrebsapparat og hermeneutiske fortolkninger. Denne videnskabsteoretiske forståelseshorisont muliggør forskellige meningsperspektiver, som er centrale for at forstå brugernes oplevelser af deres recoveryprocesser. Hermed søges der en forståelse for hvordan brugernes meningstilskrivelser dels skabes gennem vores hermeneutiske fortolkninger og dels gennem diskursive fortolkningsrepertoirer.I analysen anvendes primært Michel Foucaults subjektforståelse og analytiske begreber om individets subjektiveringsproces til belysning af problemformuleringen. Der suppleres med relevante teoretikere, der både udfolder og videreudvikler hans begrebsapparat. Det analysestrategiske udgangspunkt er at forstå, hvordan brugernes italesættelser af selvforståelser og erfarede recoveryprocesser kan være udtryk for deres subjektivering og for de betingelser, som influerer på måden, de skaber mening i deres recovery. Analysen struktureres gennem fire analysetemaer, der udspringer af de empiriske udsagn og tilsammen besvarer problemformuleringen. I første analysetema: En bruger skabes & skaber sig selv, analyseres brugernes fortællinger om forskellige forhold, der får betydning for deres måde, hvorpå de forstår sig selv og deres recovery. I andet analysetema: Den dilemmafyldte tilblivelsesproces diskuteres og analyseres brugernes udsagn om forskellige dilemmaer og ambivalenser, der udspringer af subjektiveringspro-cessen. I temaet synliggøres det, hvorledes brugerne oplever muligheder og begrænsninger i deres recoveryproces. I analysens tredje tema: Konventionel behandling & personlige handlinger rejses der spørgsmål ved, hvordan disse dimensioner i subjektiveringen og brugernes subjektive praksisser kan forstås i sammenhæng med, hvorledes brugerne benytter sig af forskellige konkrete behandlinger og/eller handlinger på vejen til at komme sig. Fjerde analysetema: Et spørgsmål om frie handlemuligheder i brugernes recoveryprocesser opsamler ovenstående analyser og diskuterer, hvorvidt brugerne har frie valg- og handlemuligheder med henblik på at rette recoveryprocessen mod, hvad de oplever subjektiv mening i. Pointen er at udforske brugernes mulighedsbetingelser for at kunne tage magten over egen recoveryproces. Med specialet konkluderes det, at processen om at komme sig ikke alene kan beskrives ud fra objektive, målbare størrelser, men at det er altafgørende, at den subjektive oplevelse inkluderes – da vigtige elementer i oplevelsen af at komme sig ellers overses. Brugernes oplevede mening i recoveryprocessen er både konstrueret gennem diskursive normer og en subjektiv oplevet mening. Analysen giver et billede af, at betingelserne i subjektiveringen har potentiale for at åbne for handlemuligheder, som ligger udenfor de eksisterende praksissers forståelsesramme, men at potentialet kan være vanskeligt at indfri. Gennem analysen kommer det til udtryk, at det er den subjektive mening, der giver brugeren en oplevelse af at udleve en personlig recovery. Konklusionen peger på, at brugeren og dennes meningsperspektiv altid må ses i lyset af sociale forhold. Det er netop i samspillet mellem menneskets selvfortælling, omgivelserne og undersøgeren, at meningsformer skabes, og nye indsigter gøres mulig., In the present master’s thesis in Psychology and Health Promotion: How to recover? – A study of personal experiences with recovery from mental challenges – the implications of psychological and health promotion strategies are examined in order to observe how recovery processes are perceived by people with challenges to their mental health. As the informants in the present thesis are not patients in the psychiatry, but people whose mental health challenges are unfolded in their everyday lives and practices, we have chosen to name them ‘clients’. Recovery is a widespread health orientation in psychiatric practice. The aim of the recovery orientation is that the client is the center in his or her own recovery process. Research demonstrates the diverse and different definitions of health. This implies differentiated approaches to the term recovery, different understandings of how people recover, and how recovery is practised. The thesis questions how these conflicting conditions influence the process of recovery as experienced by the clients. Hence, the thesis investigates how the clients are positioned to live and experience meaning in their own personal recovery process. This is examined by analyzing how the client is constituted and how he or she through the recovery process become who they are. The clients’ narratives regarding their experiences of the recovery process are the object of analysis. The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with six clients, all of which are embedded in a self-defined process of recovery. Furthermore interviews with a teacher from a recovery seminar and a recovery consultant are included. The methodological approach presents a combination of social constructivism and hermeneutics. In an abductive approach, the focus is on empirical problems which are investigated in an interplay with the selected theories and with hermeneutic interpretations. This methodological angle opens possibilities for diverse perspectives on meaning in order to understand the clients’ experiences of recovery. The analysis attempts to understand how the clients’ definition of meaning and sensemaking can be understood partly by hermeneutical interpretations and as social discursive constructions. The analytical approach used to elucidate the problematic empirical aspects primarily take its inspiration from Michel Foucault’s concept of the subject as well as his analytical concepts of subjectification of individuals. The analysis is supplemented with relevant theoretical discussions which both unfold and develops his conceptual apparatus further. The strategy of analysis attempts to understand the words of the clients’ as concrete verbalizations of self-interpretations and experiences of recovery. Thus, we understand this as expressions of the clients’ subjectification and the conditions influencing the way they ascribe meaning in their recovery. The analysis is structured into four themes, which express the empirical linguistic assertions and respond to the research question. In the first theme, A client is becoming & becomes herself, the narratives established by the clients are analyzed as to define the various aspects, which are significant for the way in which they understand themselves and their recovery. The second theme, The dilemmas of self-constitution, discusses and analyzes the clients’ narratives about different dilemmas and ambivalences which coin the process of subjectification. Throughout the theme, it is apparent how the clients experience possibilities and limitations for their recovery. In the third theme, Conventional treatment & personal acts, questions are raised as to whether these dimensions of subjectification and the clients’ subjective practices are taken into account in relation to how they act in order to recover. The fourth theme, A question of free choices of possible actions in the clients' processes of recovery, resumes the preceding analysis and discusses possibilities of free choices regarding clients’ subjective sensemaking in their recovery processes. Hence, the point is to investigate the conditions of possibility to empower their own recovery process. The thesis concludes that the process of recovering cannot simply be described in objective, quantifiable measures. Rather, the deciding factor is to include subjective experiences – or else important elements of how to recover are neglected. The clients’ experience of meaning throughout the process of recovery is, on the one hand, constructed in the medium of discursive norms, and, on the other hand, as a subjective experience of meaning. The analysis suggests that subjectification has the potential to open new possibilities of action beyond the normative frameworks of existing practices, yet also that this potentiality is difficult to fulfill. By means of the analysis, it is revealed that it is the subjective meaning which is central in a client’s experience and expression of a personal recovery. The conclusion demonstrates that the perspective of the client and his or her experience of meaning should be seen in the light of social contexts. It is in the interplay between people’s narrative about the self, the environment, and in the interpretations of the researcher that new forms and horizons of meaning can be detected, and new insights revealed.