Doctoral Historian's Book Highlights Field's Progress, Potential

On September 27, Beacon Press will release a new book, Fighting for Recovery: An Activist’s History of Mental Health Reform (ISBN: 978-080707961-4, Cloth). Doctoral historian Phyllis Vine, MPH, tells the story of former psychiatric care consumers, families, and courageous activists who formed a liberation movement that challenged medical authority and proved to the world that recovery from mental illness is possible. Without any doubt, the waking of recovery is the most exciting and far-reaching development since the very first efforts to provide mental healthcare. The hope and potential it engenders are inestimable.

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to talk with Dr Vine about her new book. I hoped to find out more about how she came to focus on the development of social activism in mental health as a key theme, as well as what the book’s most important message is. And I wanted to find out what actions she thinks we should pursue after we read it.

For more than a decade from the early 2000s, Dr Vine produced an online update of key developments in the mental health field titled My Watch. Through these efforts, she became newly aware of the groundbreaking work consumer activists were doing in the field and the important effects they were beginning to achieve, not only in mental health, but also in healthcare policy more generally. She also learned how very new the concept of recovery was, and how rapidly it was beginning to impact upon the more traditional models of care practiced in the field. As a historian, she also wondered how all of this had happened, and so quickly.

Because Dr Vine’s brother has suffered from mental illness since the days when she was a teenager, she immediately understood the significance of these developments and the possibilities that they offered for her brother and her family. She became very energized.

When I asked about the book’s most important message, Dr Vine was quick to answer: Do not give up. Have hope. Keep your eyes on the goal of recovery. Clearly, this message applies both to families and to the consumer movement itself.

What are the most important steps to take after we close the book? Dr Vine was crystal clear. We need to unite across the chasms that separate us—consumers, families, providers, and supporters of all stripes. We must break down our silos and work collaboratively. We still have much unfinished work.

Fighting for Recovery is a must read for everyone who wants to understand today’s mental health field. By examining the major developments over the last half century, Dr. Vine has given us excellent direction for where we ought to be going tomorrow.

Ron Manderscheid, PhD, is the former president and CEO of NACBHDD and NARMH, as well as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the USC School of Social Work.

The views expressed in Perspectives are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Behavioral Healthcare Executive, the Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network, or other Network authors. Perspectives entries are not medical advice.