RETURN TO SENDER - REINTEGRATIVE STIGMA-MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF EX-PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

With the exception of a few studies, little systematic attention has been given to individuals in their postdeviant careers. Drawing on data collected through participant observation and informal interviews with 146 nonchronic ex-psychiatric patients, this article explicates dimensions of their exit process and social reintegration. Specifically, attention is given to ex-patients' perceptions of mental illness as a stigmatizable/stigmatizing attribute, the problems they faced, the manner by which they manage discreditable/discrediting information about themselves, and the consequences of such for altering their deviant identities and social reintegration. This article suggests that ex-psychiatric patients are strategists and negotiators who play active roles in attempting to shape their deviant outcomes, techniques which have implications for identity transformation and reintegration.