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Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published online on June 10, 2009
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp053
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Powerful Choices: Peer Support and Individualized Medication Self-Determination

Corinna West1,2
2 Mental Health America of the Heartland, 739 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: 913-281-2221, fax: 913-281-3977, e-mail: cwestchem{at}hotmail.com

Peer support is unique in the mental health field because peer specialists provide a role model of recovery to both staff and people in recovery. Peer support as an evidence-based practice is reviewed. A personal recovery story and the experience of working as a certified peer specialist are shared to show the power peer supporters have in transforming the mental health system. Research supporting a more selective role for medication is reviewed along with the role of peer supporters in helping individuals to maximize their own unique medication needs with self-advocacy and negotiation skills. The importance of making choices is explained as a key motivating factor to keep both staff and people in recovery from giving up. Two main science-to-service gaps in real-world schizophrenia treatment are discussed: the lack of available peer support and the need for medication self-determination.

Keywords: recovery / shared decision making / dopamine supersensitivity psychosis / evidence-based practices / self-advocacy / social connection


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