Treatment and Recovery
Treatment and recovery are not the same. Treatment encompasses the way professionals intervene to stabilize or alter the course of an illness; recovery is the personal experience of the individual as he or she moves out of illness into health and wholeness. Recovery is the experiential shift from despair to hope, alienation to purpose, isolation to relationship, withdrawal to involvement, and from passive adjustment to active coping.
Professionally-Directed Treatment
Recovery can occur within or outside the context of professionally-directed treatment. Where treatment is involved, treatment may, depending on its orientation and methods, play a helpful, neutral or hurtful role in recovery. Recovery can be claimed only by the person in recovery, and that ownership includes the right to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from one's experiences.
