A Complexity Perspective on Narrative Identity Reconstruction in Mental Health Recovery.

The issue of complex nonlinear change processes is one of the least understood aspects of recovery and one of the most difficult to apply in recovery-oriented health care. The purpose of this article is to explore the recovery stories of 17 mental health peer support workers to understand their narrative identity reconstruction in recovery using a complexity perspective. Using the Life Story Model of Identity (LSMI), a narrative thematic analysis of interviews suggests that self-mastery as part of personal agency is an important component of participants' narrative identity reconstruction. Self-mastery is particularly evident in redemptive story turning points (positive outcome follows negative experience). A complexity perspective suggests that participants realized their adaptive capacity in relation to self-mastery as part of recovery and that its use at story turning points critically influenced their recovery journey. Further exploring self-mastery as adaptive growth in narrative identity reconstruction appears to be a fruitful research direction.

Recovery in mental health: a movement towards well-being and meaning in contrast to an avoidance of symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the types of goals being set by individuals in the context of Australian mental health services and whether goal type differs across the stages of recovery. METHODS: Goal records of 144 individuals accessing services were reviewed to examine goal content, ratio of approach and avoidance oriented goals and changes across stages of psychological recovery. RESULTS: Individuals further along in their recovery set significantly more approach goals and types of goals set appeared to reflect broader life roles. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Setting approach goals and goals that reflect broader life roles tends to support the definition of psychological recovery as being "the movement towards" greater meaning and enhanced sense of self.

Screening for mental disorder comorbidity in Australian alcohol and other drug residential treatment settings.

There has been much international impetus to address the importance of identifying and treating clients experiencing both a substance use disorder and a mental disorder in treatment settings. Gaps in the literature still exist after a decade of research into this area. There is little research on the prevalence of co-occurring mental disorders (CODs) in the residential alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment modality. In this study, the mental disorder status of 278 participants resident in AOD treatment settings across Australia was estimated using the Addiction Severity Index-Self Report (J.S. Cacciola, A. Pecoraro, & A.I. Alterman, 2008) and the Mental Health Screening Form III (J.F.X. Carroll & J.J. McGinley, 2001). The estimated rate of diagnosable Axis I mental disorder comorbidity varied from 64% to 71% depending upon which cutoff score was used with the MHSF-III. Missing data emerged as a major limitation of the self-report version of the Addiction Severity Index psychiatric composite score in this population.