Taking Mental Health Practices into Social Realities. A Trialogue Between Open Dialogue, Recovery Capital and Power Threat Meaning Framework

Abstract

This paper explores three socially oriented approaches to mental health recovery: Open Dialogue (OD), Recovery Capital (RC), and the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF). Each approach challenges individualistic and medicalized models by emphasizing social, relational, and material contexts. We argue that these approaches, while distinct, can complement each other in practice. PTMF provides a socio-material understanding of distress as a response to power and threat, RC identifies resources necessary for sustainable recovery, and OD offers a dialogical practice that mobilizes these resources together with the person’s social network. By initiating a “trialogue” between these approaches, we propose a processual model: understanding origins (PTMF), identifying resources (RC), and enacting change through dialogue (OD). We conclude by suggesting directions for integrating these approaches into mental health services and call for further research on their combined potential to foster socially just and contextually grounded practices.