Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the meaning of peer support experiences among people with psychiatric disabilities upon recovery.
Research methods: A qualitative research design based on the theoretical premise of Denzin’s interpretive interactionism theory was employed. The study was comprised of twenty participants diagnosed with mental disorders who provided peer support by telephone. They were interviewed in a semi-structured manner about their peer support experiences.
Results: Peer support upon recovery among people with psychiatric disabilities meant the following: 1. Being able to live a unique life through interactions with other people, and 2. Being able to make use of themselves for the happiness of others. “Being able to live a unique life through interactions with other people” is as being comprised of the following aspects: 1) a release from the uniformity caused by psychosis and 2) seeking a unique life. “Being able to make use of themselves for the happiness of others” is as being comprised of the following aspects: 1) pain and concern, 2) experiences in which they were accepted as themselves, 3) connections and solidarity, 4) feeling responsibility toward other people, 5) making use of themselves to support other people, and 6) work that makes meaningful human relationships essential.
Consideration: From Lévinas’ theory of “others,” these results were interpreted as a regaining of uniqueness through the interaction with “others,” whom it is impossible to fully comprehend, and an establishment of subjectivity as an ethical response to others with pain.
