“Rising Like Phoenix From the Ashes”: An Arts-Based Qualitative Study of Mental Health Resilience and Recovery in Romania

The philosophy underpinning mental health care has undergone a shift from a biomedical, deficit model to a recovery-oriented, strengths-based approach prioritizing individual abilities, experiences, and skills. Within this context, it is paramount to understand how resilience is experienced by people living with mental distress, and the role it plays in the recovery process. This arts-based qualitative study aims to explore the meanings and experiences of resilience as part of the recovery journey of nine mental health service users from a community day center in Romania. In Romania, the mental health system and research into mental distress and recovery have been traditionally guided by a biomedical approach. This is the first study conducted from the perspective of people living with mental distress in Romania, revealing the experiential and conceptual complexities of resilience in their recovery. Thematic analysis of data generated through ten creative workshops, a focus group, and art-elicited semi-structured interviews revealed four key themes of resilience intertwined with participants' experiences of recovery: re(dis)covering the authentic self, symbiosis with the day center, navigating conflicts (with self, society, and the psychiatric system), and leaving the past behind. The insights from participants' verbal contributions triangulated with their artwork provided a deeper understanding of resilience within the cultural context of Romania. The findings add to an increasing body of evidence that informs the reformation of mental health practices in line with the perspectives on resilience held by people experiencing mental distress.