The Conceptual Evolution of Self-Help and Peer Support——A Study on the Changing of Mental Health Services in the West

The traditional model of mental health services in West is a biochemical one,which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.As a consumer movement emerged in the 1960s and 70s,it made the concept of self-help and peer support be accepted as one of the important principles in mental health services,and mental patients to be regarded as normal social members with their own strengths and demands.It is not until 1990s,recovery model came to prevail in mental health services and took self-help and peer support as fundamental elements for mental patients to seek meaningful life.Obviously,the basic change underlying the development of mental health services in the West is the shift of view of mental patients,which stresses self-help and peer support as core values in mental health services.