Navigating the Storm to Recovery through the Pictorial Representations of Persons in the Recovery Phase from Unipolar Depression

Abstract

Depression is a highly complex mental illness that presents challenges, such as difficulties for persons with depression to communicate their experiences. This is compounded further by a paucity of in-depth and pictorial accounts on their experiences of the recovery process. The combination of pictorial representations and interviews with persons who are recovering from depression, may assist them in communicating these lived experiences. Five participants recovering from unipolar depression and who were in the late stages of recovery were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected through the conduction of art sessions, where participants pictorially represented their experience of living with depression and their road to recovery. Semi-structured interviews were then used to explore their artwork. The transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Two superordinate themes emerged from participants’ interviews, namely: ‘A New Me in Me’ that incorporating changes in their identity, physical, emotional, and social experiences, and ‘Life as an amalgamation of colour’ describing their search for meaning and the importance of spirituality, hope, gaining control and positivity in the recovery process. The use of pictorial representations combined with interviews can add depth to participant narratives, that serve to enhance the therapeutic alliance between the patient–professional dyad.