Phenomenological and participatory research on schizophrenia: Recovering the person in theory and practice

This article describes the application of phenomenological and participatory research methods in understanding the problem of recurrent inpatient admissions for individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness. Conventional approaches to understanding and addressing inpatient recidivism in serious mental illness have neglected to invite the perspective or input of the person with the disorder; further exacerbating the passive and helpless role of mental patient into which these individuals have become socialized by virtue of prevailing patterns of cultural stigma and clinical practice. These approaches have focused exclusively on the disorder and its signs and symptoms and have attempted to prevent readmission through early detection and intervention to prevent relapse. This paper describes the failure of one attempt to institute such an approach to addressing the problem of recidivism, and the use of phenomenological and participatory research methods to involve recidivist patients themselves in exploring the reasons for this failure and to suggest alternative approaches. These methods involved patients' describing their experiences of hospitalization, discharge, and readmission, identifying the precipitants and reasons for their readmissions, and participating in the design of a new intervention that has proven more successful in assisting them in establishing more satisfying lives for themselves in the community as an alternative to returning to the hospital. The authors suggest that such participatory methods provide an antidote to the passive and helpless role of mental patient often encouraged by conventional modes of clinical practice and research, allowing for a recovery of an active role for the person with the disorder both in the theory and practice of clinical psychology.