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The politics of recovery in mental health: A left libertarian policy analysis

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Abstract

Recovery, within mental health policy, does not mean a ‘return to full health’. Rather, it embodies an acceptance that mental health problems may endure, but that ‘sufferers’ still want to be socially supported to rebuild their lives in meaningful and self-determining ways, allowing them to contribute and experience interdependence within society. Suddenly fashionable, the Recovery model has become the dominant paradigm, and is now in danger of being co-opted and distorted by mainstream English policy makers and ‘experts’ in the field. In this article, we explore the significance of this co-option for policy and practice. We use Noam Chomsky's critical methodology (as an exemplar of a left libertarian position) first to provide both a theoretical analysis and test of the cogency of the Recovery model, and then as a critical mechanism to judge manifestations of the Recovery model in practice. In Chomsky's political philosophy, we find that hope is both a prerequisite and a pre-condition for a trusting and supportive environment. Citizens (with or without mental ill health) need these conditions to be able to access and utilise their creativity in dealing with their current reality. For Chomsky, hope, our innate creativity and a supportive community are the necessary conditions of freedom. Those with mental ill health will not be excluded if society in general, and policy based on the Recovery model, foreground these elements. We find, therefore, that the Recovery model will have limited efficacy unless our communities embody trust and hope.

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Notes

  1. Chomsky identifies with, and offers a synthesis of the left libertarian tradition in his book Cartesian Linguistics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queens Medical Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK

    Alison Edgley

  2. School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy, University of Nottingham, Duncan Macmillan House, Porchester Road, Nottingham, NG3 6AA, UK

    Theodore Stickley & Julie Repper

  3. Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research & Care (CLAHRC) Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, Sir Colin Campbell Building, Triumph Road, Nottingham, NG7 2TU, UK

    Nicola Wright

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  1. Alison Edgley
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  2. Theodore Stickley
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  3. Nicola Wright
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  4. Julie Repper
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Edgley, A., Stickley, T., Wright, N. et al. The politics of recovery in mental health: A left libertarian policy analysis. Soc Theory Health 10, 121–140 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/sth.2012.1

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