Recovery and Spirituality
Across Personal Recovery and Spirituality, there are common themes of meaning, purpose, connection and hope.
In recovery, spirituality is used to manage and cope with the symptoms, consequences, and suffering of mental illness.
Spirituality gives “meaning and direction to a person’s life and helps them deal with the vicissitudes of existence (Swinton & Pattison, 2001, p. 24).”
Personal recovery refers to “the development of new meaning and purpose in one’s life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness (Anthony, 1993, p. 527).”
Spaniol (2002) defines recovery as “a spiritual journey by which people with psychiatric disabilities rebuild and further develop their connectedness to themselves, to others, to their living, learning, and working environments, and to larger meaning and purpose (p. 332).”
“(f)or many people recovery is about regaining control of their identity and life, having hope for their life, and living a life that has meaning for them whether that be through work, relationships, spirituality, community engagement or some or all of these.” World Health Organisation, 2021
CHIME (recovery) and MISTIC (spirituality) Frameworks
CHIME Framework
The Kings College (UK) completed the first systematic review and narrative synthesis of personal recovery literature identifying the five key processes represented by the acronym CHIME - Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning and purpose, and Empowerment (Leamy, Bird, Le Boutillier, Williams, & Slade, 2011).
Leamy, M., Bird, V., Le Boutillier, C., Williams, J., & Slade, M. (2011). Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health: systematic review and narrative synthesis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 199(6), 445-452. here
MISTIC Framework
The University of Nottingham investigated “the experiences of spirituality among adults with mental health difficulties” in published qualitative research (Milner et al., 2019). They identified six key themes: Meaning-making, Identity, Service-provision, Talk about it, Interaction with symptoms and Coping, giving the acronym MISTIC.
Not only was there evidence of “the significant role spirituality plays in the lives of many people who experience mental health difficulties” and the necessity of “health providers to understand and address people’s spiritual needs as part of an integrated holistic approach towards care (p.1.).” They identified the overlap and “amplificatory force” between recovery and spirituality (CHIME and MISTIC), especially in relation to meaning and identity.
As stated, “this marks relatedness between the concepts of spirituality and recovery, often defined in relation to finding meaning and purpose in life (p.7).”
Milner K, Crawford P, Edgley A, Hare Duke L, Slade M (2020) The experiences of spirituality among adults with mental health difficulties: a qualitative systematic review, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 29, e34. here
MISTIC resources here
