This website uses the term person who has experienced severe psychiatric disability or person with a psychiatric disability to underscore the emphasis that psychiatric rehabilitation places on the individual rather than the diagnosed illness. Psychiatric Rehabilitation . Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Boston, MA, 2000. Recovery is the process by which people with psychiatric disability rebuild and further develop important personal, social, environmental, and spiritual connections, and by which they confront the devastating effects of stigma through personal empowerment. Recovery is a process of adjusting one's attitudes, feelings, perceptions, beliefs, roles, and goals in life.
Recovery is a deeply emotional process.
Recovery involves creating a new personal vision for oneself. Recovering from the illness and from stigma can be very stressful. Recovering is what people with psychiatric disabilities do. Psychiatric Rehabilitation is what helpers do to encourage the recovery process. Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Boston, MA, 1994.