The Recovery Model: Discourse Ethics and the Retrieval of the Self

The recovery model, as applied in mental health, is significant because it intends to foster a critical retrieval by the subject of herself as a self-determining agent of change. This paper will show that the recovery model represents an approach to caring for the self that is congruent with critical themes inherent in some forms of contemporary philosophy, particularly that of Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas. The paper will also consider the contribution that Habermas' discourse ethics could make towards the non-coercive, dialogical resolution of differences between clients and professionals.