The subjective experience of recovery from psychosis in an acute mental health inpatient setting

Background: Experiences of recovery from psychosis have been well explored but not with service users in the acute stages of psychosis. This study aimed to explore the subjective experiences of recovery from psychosis from the perspective of service users receiving acute mental health inpatient care. Methods: Ten participants undertook a semi-structured interview examining their experiences of recovery from psychosis during acute mental health inpatient care. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Five superordinate themes emerged: “My future is just being ripped out in front of me”: Living with psychosis is a struggle; “Would you want to be in here?”: Traumatic experience of being in hospital; “I know roughly why I got ill anyway and what caused this”: A journey towards reaching an understanding; Recovery/Rehabilitation/Recuperation: A process of evolution; and “You need all the help you can get”: Facilitators of Recovery. Conclusions: This study highlighted that mental health inpatient settings are not settings where everyone can be in recovery or approaching recovery. For some participants, recovery appeared to be an empty signifier, and is a word used by services but does not necessarily correspond with their experiences of mental health inpatient settings.