health care professionals), community (others living with a mental illness, others who are well, a
faith community, the community in which participants lived), and nature, while at the same time
experiencing situations and incidents that promote disconnection from these sub-themes.
Strategies used by participants to achieve connection included: taking prescribed atypical anti-
psychotic medications, maintaining their health and a healthy lifestyle, use of prayer/meditation,
caring for self and others, and engaging in creative activities that added meaning to their life
experiences. Among the 17 factors contributing to connection, exemplars are: reconnecting with
one’s spirit through prayer and meditation, attending drop-in centres for persons living with a
mental illness, and walking/hiking in nature. Outcomes include feeling peaceful, love,
contentment, being accepted and nurtured by others. Among the 14 factors contributing to
disconnection, exemplars are: the effect of the illness on relationships with other people, the
stigma of being in a psychiatric ward, being unemployed, and taking typical anti-psychotic
medications. Outcomes include feeling powerlessness, isolation, rejection and alienation.
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“I frequently see patients who believe that they have difficult lifelong physical or emotional
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hopelessness about changing these patterns.
“Combining two concepts in Ayurvedic philosophy may point a way to address such maladies.
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