Meanings for mental distress in mutual support spaces and activism: A life story

In mental health our experience and the knowledge derived from it is usually omitted from the practices that are used to treat us. In this work, we explore what meanings are built for the experience of mental distress when we participate in mutual support spaces and activism. We carried out a qualitative and exploratory research following the Mad Studies and the Sur-vivor Research framework. The life story of a mental health activist was used as a method. We considered the Survivor Research recommendations and the comprehensive narrative analysis for the analysis. The participant understands her mental distress as a journey to recovery in which she walks with hope and optimism. We discussed these findings and concluded that more research is required to challenge the prevailing biomedical model and its hegemony in defining our experiences of mental distress and /or psychosocial diversity.