Life on a waiting list: How do people experience and cope with delayed access to a community
mental health center?
Sammanfattning
The aim of this paper is to explore how people waiting for treatment at a community specialist
mental health center experience the time between referral and the first consultation. Within a
collaborative-reflexive framework, nine service users were interviewed about their experiences with
waiting for treatment. Three main themes were identified: «Expectations about waiting», «The
experience of waiting: Shortcomings and struggles with everyday issues», and «Coping with
symptoms and challenges by being active and taking control». While waiting, participants actively
relied on their existing daily activities and social networks to feel better. The coping strategies they
developed may be valuable tools for service users and their therapists, and the strategies may
represent important prognostic factors for recovery.