Recovery in Telling Life Stories
Recovery in Telling Life Stories (RETELL): Testing a Narrative Identity Intervention for Personal Recovery in Individuals With Severe Mental Illness
University of Aarhus
20 participants
Jul 21, 2025
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
This project tests the Recovery In Telling Life Stories (RETELL) intervention, aimed at supporting personal recovery in people with severe mental illness (SMI). While many of those with SMI experience symptom control, their quality of life often remains low due to social loss, negative self-perceptions, and identity-related challenges not addressed by standard treatments. Through a process of narrative repair, the RETELL intervention helps participants explore the personal consequences of mental illness while supporting the enhancement of narratives that strengthen identity and foster well-being. The intervention is delivered across 8-12 sessions and will be assessed for feasibility of both the intervention and study procedures. We will also explore its preliminary impact on recovery, quality of life, symptoms, functioning, self-stigma, and personality, using a multiple single-case A-B-A design. We expect the intervention and study procedures to show acceptable feasibility. We further hypothesize that participants' scores on recovery and well-being will be low at baseline, improve during the intervention, and remain higher after the intervention ends and at 3-month follow-up. This study will provide a foundation for future randomized controlled trials.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria6
- Adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years
- A self-reported principal diagnosis of one or more of the following: schizophrenia (F20), bipolar disorder (F31), personality disorders (F60), obsessive-compulsive disorder (F42), anxiety disorders (F41), recurrent depressive disorder (F33), eating disorders (F50), hyperkinetic disorders (F90), post-traumatic stress disorder (F43.1), Asperger syndrome (F84.5)
- Not in full recovery (Brief INSPIRE-O \< 50)
- Danish language proficiency
- Medication stabilized (i.e., same type and dosage for a minimum of 8 weeks)
- Ability and willingness to give informed consent
Exclusion Criteria6
- Self-reported diagnosis of mental retardation (F70-79) and/or organic mental disorder (F00-09)
- Psychiatric symptoms, thoughts of self-harm and/or substance abuse of self-reported severity which are likely to prevent one or all of the following: attendance at scheduled sessions, completion of questionnaires before, during and after the intervention, meaningful engagement in the therapeutic process
- Psychiatric hospitalization in the past 4 weeks
- Prior conviction of violent crime
- Currently homeless
- Currently in psychotherapy initiated within the past 6 months.
Interventions
The intervention is structured around 4 central tasks focusing on different aspects of narrative repair. Task 1: Introduction to life story exploration and building alliance. Task 2: Explore and process the impact of mental illness on identity, externalizing negative narratives, and making sense of emotional responses such as guilt, grief, or shame. Task 3: Identify positive identity conclusions (e.g., strengths, values, skills) from past or current life experiences, and support their integration into the personal narrative. Task 4: Support the imagining of a realistic and hopeful future narrative, grounded in insights of previous sessions. Tasks 1-4 are addressed in a total of 8-12 sessions, depending on the specific user needs. Sessions will have an app. duration of 45-60 mins and will be delivered by the PI who is a trained therapist and psychologist (MSc. Psych.), receiving ongoing supervision. The intervention manual will be made freely available in relation to study publication.
Locations(1)
View Full Details on ClinicalTrials.gov
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NCT07082777