Acceptance of Mental Illness

Recently there has been a growing awareness of the process of recovery from serious mental illness and the importance of coming to terms with the challenges resulting from the illness. Acceptance of one's mental illness is a critical milestone of the recovery journey, fostering empowerment, hope, and self-determination. In addition, there has been a developing interest in the role of culture in influencing the experience of mental illness, treatment, and recovery. Yet, the topic of how people with diverse cultural backgrounds come to recognize and cope with their mental illness is often overlooked in the literature.

Acceptance of Mental Illness adheres to a recovery-oriented philosophy that understands recovery as not simply symptom elimination, but as the process of living a meaningful and satisfying life with mental illness. The book synthesizes research on this topic and offers extensive case histories gathered by the authors to provide readers with an understanding of the multidimensional process of acceptance of mental illness across genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. The aim is for clinical readers to be better equipped to support people with mental illness across culturally diverse groups to experience empowerment, mental wellness, and growth. Chapters focus on providing a historical overview of the treatment of people with mental illness, examining the acceptance process, and exploring the experience of acceptance among women, men, racial-ethnic minorities, and LGBT individuals with serious mental illnesses. The book is a useful tool for mental health educators and providers, with each chapter containing case studies, clinical strategies lists, discussion questions, experiential activities, diagrams, and worksheets that can be completed with clients, students, and peers.