Illness Management and Recovery in State Psychiatric Hospitals

Abstract

State psychiatric hospitals across the United States continue to use methodologies that predate the emergence of the evidenced-based practices movement and widespread adoption of the recovery model. The cultural legacy of state psychiatric hospitals is often heavily influenced by the era of custodial treatment with an emphasis on medication and the primacy of the medical model of care. Using a recovery and wellness philosophy, combined with practices that are evidence based, represents a vision for the future of these institutions (Smith & Bartholomew, 2006). This article describes the implementation of the evidence-based practice of illness management and recovery (SAMHSA, 2008) in a state psychiatric hospital. The role of this evidence-based program, as a way of operationalizing a recovery and wellness philosophy, is discussed in addition to some of the successful implementation strategies and program barriers. Directions for future work in this area are also discussed.