The results show that recovery processes are social processes in which social relationships play a key role.

The focus in psychiatric treatment research needs to be broadened. In addition to research on the outcome of particular methods and interventions, the common factors also need to be investigated, above all, what is the effect of the quality of the relationship between user and professional. Greater attention needs to be paid, as well, to how helping respective obstructive relationships in psychiatric services arise, are maintained or are modified.

Relationships with professionals have been shown to be helpful to persons with severe mental illness (SMI) in relation to a variety of services. In this article, we aimed to synthesize the available qualitative research to acquire a deepened understanding of what helpful relationships with professionals consists of, from the perspective of persons with SMI. To do this, we created a meta-ethnography of 21 studies, through which ten themes and an overarching interpretation were created. The findings show that helpful relationships with professionals are relationships where the persons with SMI get to spend time with professionals that they know and trust, who gives them access to resources, support, collaboration and valued interpersonal processes, which are allowed to transgress the boundaries of the professional relationship. The overarching interpretation shows that the relationship that persons with SMI form with professionals is a professional relationship as well as an interpersonal relationship. Both these dimensions entail actions and processes that can be helpful to persons with SMI. Therefore, it is important to recognize and acknowledge both the functional roles of service user and service provider, as well as the roles of two persons interacting with each other, in a manner that may go beyond the purview of the traditional professionalism. Furthermore, the helpful components of this DOI 10.1007/s11126-015-9347-5 relationship are determined by the individual preferences, needs and wishes of persons with SMI.

Non-helpful relationships with professionals can be understood as impersonal relationships that contain no space for negotiation of the relationship nor of the support and treatment provided through it. It is important that organizations provide professionals with favorable conditions to negotiate the organizational framework and to treat persons with SMI as whole human beings.