Flat Recovery Process in Mental Health: A Qualitative Analysis of Autoethnography

Abstract

This study aims to provide a new perspective on the concept of recovery by qualitatively analyzing the experiences of mentally ill people from the Japanese perspective through autoethnography. Traditionally, the recovery process has been viewed as a series of "ups and downs" that may not apply to individuals with chronic mental health issues. A qualitative autoethnography analysis used personal diary entries from 20XX through 20XX + 4. Using text mining with KH Coder and cluster analysis, I first classified and visualized the data from the diary content and then, after confirming the content chronologically, examined the validity of the concept of the recovery process based on the theoretical framework of the Japanese cultural perspective. External validity was ensured through triangulation with the author's work. Coding revealed four to six groups of mental health recovery keywords for each year. Confirmation of the results according to the life history also revealed problems with the conventional recovery process concept and advantages of the flat recovery process based on the Japanese cultural perspective.