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Abstract
Background: An important factor facilitating recovery from mental illness is the creation of new meaning out of the illness experience.
Aims: This study explores such meaning-making with reference to severe mental illness, and how this new meaning facilitates recovery.
Methods: Through 30 in-depth interviews, we explored mens' and womens' meaning-making regarding mental illness using grounded theory analysis.
Results: Throughout the process of making-meaning, the percieved reason for the illness emerged as the core category. However, the reasons differed both between and within the male and female groups. Four response patterns were found when analysing the material, and three of the four groups restructured the meaning of their illness more favourably, helping to redirect life towards authenticity.
Conclusions: The results underline the need for further research into recovery achievements connected to meaning-making and changes in attitudes towards illness. One area to be researched is meaning-making in which gender is reconsidered in relation to the individual's capacity and life situation.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.