One of the earliest self-help groups, Recovery Inc. was founded at the Neuropsychiatric Institute of the University of Illinois Research and Education Hospitals on November 7, 1937, by the late Abraham A. Low, M.D.
Dr. Low, Associate Professor of Psychiatry on the faculty of the College of Medicine, observed the need for a structured organization to continue to provide support to former mental patients. He also recognized that he could treat only a limited number of patients if he saw them one at a time, and more good could be done for more patients in a structured therapeutic group setting. Thus, the first group comprised 30 former patients of the Psychiatric Institute. From the outset, the mission of Recovery, Inc. has been and continues to be prevention of relapses in former mental patients and chronicity in nervous patients.
According to James Barter, MD, University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) professor of psychiatry(retired) and director of the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, Dr. Low was a charismatic figure and an original thinker. He probably based his theories of mental disease on biological premises as opposed to the psychoanalytic theories that were almost universally believed at the time, and he was often at professional odds with the psychoanalysts of his day. He initially specialized in neurology and studied neurosciences thoroughly, publishing numerous articles on subjects such as the histopathology of the brain and spinal cord, before he began practicing psychiatry.
During its formative years, Recovery's activities were closely supervised by Dr. Low. All the while, he was working toward the development of techniques that would allow the organization to stand as an independent self-help lay group without professional supervision. The systematic panel method he devised is described in Mental Health Through Will Training. The book presents case studies in the form of interviews and panel discussions. These are interpreted in terms of Dr. Low's theories of will-training, temper control, and symptom analysis, rather than psychoanalysis. He established a comprehensive set of techniques for managing fear, anger, and the symptoms of depression, techniques that would now be called behavior modification and cognitive therapy. He believed that with application of his method, in the absence of organic illness, there were "no hopeless cases." He created a freshly descriptive vocabulary specific to the Method and its concepts. For example, the concept of "spotting" was a method of training patients for balanced introspection.
Recovery became an independent organization in 1941. Between 1941 and 1952, when Dr. Low resigned as Recovery's medical director, the panel method of case presentation evolved and became strictly codified, as shown by the description of the spotting method at the end of this article, and the organization became totally self-help. Through the Recovery self-help panel procedures, members saw and heard the application of the principles of reacquiring self leadership, overcoming the fear of nervous symptoms, and strengthening self confidence. Examples given at meetings by Recovery members, following Dr. Low's outline of four steps of the example, illustrated the self-help characteristics of the Method. Through participation in group meetings, members sought and obtained the help of fellow panel members. From the comments of the group members on examples given came suggestions on how to practice Recovery more effectively.
Though his theories and practices were not received enthusiastically by the psychiatric community in general, their use spread by word of mouth among practitioners who accepted the concepts of Recovery and from patient to patient. New groups formed, first in the midwest, then eventually throughout the country and internationally. Realizing that he could not supervise each group directly, Dr. Low devised training methods to teach selected group members how to maintain the structure of the meeting and consistent application of the Recovery method within a group and from group to group.
Because it is a lay group, limited to aftercare and self-help, Recovery does not replace professional care; each patient relies on his or her own mental health professional for diagnosis and treatment. Its training deals only with that portion of a patient's life where he or she is expected to practice self leadership.
There are now hundreds of Recovery groups meeting in the United States,Canada,Ireland, Puerto Rico, Spain, Israel and the United Kingdom. Recovery remains the self-help group Dr. Low envisioned. Dr. Low wrote, "Recovery stands for simplicity. Its systems of instruction and training are meant to enable the patient to practice self-help. Self-help in psychiatric aftercare calls for simple methods of interpreting and manipulating symptoms. When you are ill, your main and all-absorbing purpose must be the will to get well. All other purposes, no matter how inspiring and exalted, must be subordinate to the one leading purpose of getting and keeping well."
