This article claims that research has shown that people, not medicine, are crucial to recovery. The National Empowerment Center’s training program, Personal Assistance in Community Existence (PACE), is also discussed.

Fisher, D. B. (2003). People are more important than pills in recovery from mental disorder. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 43(2), 65-68.

Using a sample of 75 patients with schizophrenia, the authors aimed to identify factors that may facilitate recovery in schizophrenia. They believe that, given the difficulty of predicting recovery, it is incumbent upon mental health professionals to extend the full spectrum of recovery-oriented services to all patients.

Hoffman, H and Zupper, Z. (2002). Facilitators of psychosocial recovery from schizophrenia. International Review of Psychiatry, 14(4), 293-302.

This article describes how personality traits can significantly impact the choices that recovering persons make and the quality of interpersonal relationships with care providers who are trying to facilitate the recovery process.

Donat, D. (2001). Personality and recovery: Integrating personality assessment data to facilitate the recovery process. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 24(4), 325-334.

This article describes a study that attempts to define the recovery process by interviewing 46 former and current consumers of mental health services. Tentative implications of findings are also included.

Sullivan, W. P. (1994). A long and winding road: The process of recovery from severe mental illness. Innovations and Research, 3(3), 19-27.