Behind the Rhetoric

Book excerpt: Recovery has taken the mental health world by storm. In clinics, hospitals, community organizations and governments across North America and Europe, recovery rhetoric is everywhere. Its message of hope is catchy, its promise of wellness long overdue and its claims (somewhat) substantiated. But where did this new vision for mental health come from and what does it really mean for a system long unbalanced? Focusing on Ontario's mental health communities, the book is the first to take a critical look at recovery's talk and texts. Using Foucault's analyses of discourse, it is also the first to go behind recovery's rhetoric of hope and responsibility, re-theorizing mental health recovery in Canada.