{"id":2414,"date":"2025-10-07T09:47:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/?p=2414"},"modified":"2025-10-07T10:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:46:45","slug":"from-diagnosis-to-meaning-how-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-inspires-recasas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/2025\/10\/07\/from-diagnosis-to-meaning-how-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-inspires-recasas\/","title":{"rendered":"From Diagnosis to Meaning: How the Power Threat Meaning Framework Inspires RECASAS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"847\" data-end=\"1261\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">At RECASAS, we believe that healing begins when people are seen not as patients with symptoms, but as human beings with stories.<\/span><br data-start=\"975\" data-end=\"978\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">For too long, emotional distress has been framed as a medical problem \u2014 something to be diagnosed, treated, or managed. Yet behind every so-called symptom lies a story of power, threat, and meaning: what has happened to us, how it has shaped us, and how we have learned to survive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1263\" data-end=\"1545\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">This is the understanding at the heart of the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bps.org.uk\/member-networks\/division-clinical-psychology\/power-threat-meaning-framework\"> <strong data-start=\"1309\" data-end=\"1350\">Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF)<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 a groundbreaking approach developed by psychologists Lucy Johnstone and Mary Boyle for the British Psychological Society. Instead of asking <em data-start=\"1493\" data-end=\"1520\">\u201cWhat is wrong with you?\u201d<\/em>, it invites us to ask:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1547\" data-end=\"1932\">\n<li data-start=\"1547\" data-end=\"1617\">\n<p data-start=\"1549\" data-end=\"1617\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">What has happened to you? <em data-start=\"1575\" data-end=\"1615\">(How has power operated in your life?)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1618\" data-end=\"1685\">\n<p data-start=\"1620\" data-end=\"1685\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">How did it affect you? <em data-start=\"1643\" data-end=\"1683\">(What kinds of threats did it create?)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1686\" data-end=\"1759\">\n<p data-start=\"1688\" data-end=\"1759\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">What sense did you make of it? <em data-start=\"1719\" data-end=\"1757\">(What meaning does it hold for you?)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1760\" data-end=\"1865\">\n<p data-start=\"1762\" data-end=\"1865\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">What did you have to do to survive? <em data-start=\"1798\" data-end=\"1863\">(What strategies or \u201cthreat responses\u201d have helped you endure?)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1866\" data-end=\"1908\">\n<p data-start=\"1868\" data-end=\"1908\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">What are your strengths and resources?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1909\" data-end=\"1932\">\n<p data-start=\"1911\" data-end=\"1932\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">What is your story?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1934\" data-end=\"2178\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">These questions replace diagnosis with understanding. They help us see distress not as illness but as an <strong data-start=\"2039\" data-end=\"2106\">intelligible human response to adversity and imbalance of power<\/strong> \u2014 whether that power is social, economic, cultural, or interpersonal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2180\" data-end=\"2210\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Beyond the medical model<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2212\" data-end=\"2694\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The medical model assumes that distress arises from something wrong inside an individual \u2014 a chemical imbalance, a disorder, a defect.<\/span><br data-start=\"2346\" data-end=\"2349\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The PTMF offers a different lens: one that understands suffering within its <strong data-start=\"2425\" data-end=\"2459\">social and relational context.<\/strong> It recognises that trauma, discrimination, poverty, and loss are not background details \u2014 they are part of the story itself.<\/span><br data-start=\"2584\" data-end=\"2587\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">It also gives space for creativity, spirituality, and culture as vital sources of meaning and resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2696\" data-end=\"3026\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">For RECASAS, this shift is essential. It allows us to build a culture where people can reclaim authorship of their stories \u2014 through <strong data-start=\"2829\" data-end=\"2884\">writing, reading, art, film, and shared reflection.<\/strong><\/span><br data-start=\"2884\" data-end=\"2887\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Instead of treatment plans, we create spaces for imagination and mutual learning. Instead of compliance, we nurture curiosity and agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"3028\" data-end=\"3064\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #008000;\">How we use the PTMF at RECASAS<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"3066\" data-end=\"3563\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The questions of the Power Threat Meaning Framework quietly inform everything we do.<\/span><br data-start=\"3150\" data-end=\"3153\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In a writing group, they might appear as prompts: <em data-start=\"3203\" data-end=\"3308\">What have you learned to do in order to feel safe? What do you wish others understood about your story?<\/em><\/span><br data-start=\"3308\" data-end=\"3311\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In a community conversation, they might guide how we listen: not for symptoms, but for meaning.<\/span><br data-start=\"3406\" data-end=\"3409\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In our structure, they remind us to distribute power \u2014 to design RECASAS as a participatory, peer-led initiative rather than a hierarchical institution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3565\" data-end=\"3825\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The PTMF also connects us with international movements such as <strong data-start=\"3628\" data-end=\"3656\">Intentional Peer Support<\/strong> and the <strong data-start=\"3665\" data-end=\"3693\">Academy of Peer Services<\/strong> in New York City \u2014 approaches that, like RECASAS, value lived experience, dialogue, and mutual growth over diagnosis and control.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"3827\" data-end=\"3871\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Towards a new culture of understanding<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"3873\" data-end=\"4327\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Adopting the Power Threat Meaning Framework is more than an intellectual choice.<\/span><br data-start=\"3953\" data-end=\"3956\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">It is a <strong data-start=\"3964\" data-end=\"3983\">cultural stance<\/strong>: a commitment to social justice, to equality, and to restoring meaning where systems have taken it away.<\/span><br data-start=\"4088\" data-end=\"4091\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">It tells every participant: <em data-start=\"4119\" data-end=\"4197\">You are not broken. You are responding to life in the best way you know how.<\/em><\/span><br data-start=\"4197\" data-end=\"4200\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">And it invites all of us \u2014 as peers, as citizens, as creators \u2014 to imagine mental health care beyond the walls of psychiatry.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"4329\" data-end=\"4342\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #008000;\">Join us<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"4344\" data-end=\"4593\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Over the coming months, RECASAS will offer opportunities to explore this framework more deeply \u2014 both online and in person \u2014 through reading circles and creative study groups.<\/span><br data-start=\"4519\" data-end=\"4522\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">If you wish to help build this new culture of understanding, you can:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"4595\" data-end=\"4905\">\n<li data-start=\"4595\" data-end=\"4653\">\n<p data-start=\"4597\" data-end=\"4653\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">join our upcoming <strong data-start=\"4615\" data-end=\"4651\">Power Threat Meaning Study Group<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"4654\" data-end=\"4792\">\n<p data-start=\"4656\" data-end=\"4792\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">contribute your <strong data-start=\"4672\" data-end=\"4713\">time, expertise, or financial support<\/strong> as part of our growing circle of Mitgestalter<em data-start=\"4759\" data-end=\"4785\">innen and Gesellschafter<\/em>innen<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"4793\" data-end=\"4905\">\n<p data-start=\"4795\" data-end=\"4905\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">or simply share this vision with others who believe that stories \u2014 not diagnoses \u2014 should guide how we heal.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"4907\" data-end=\"5040\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Together we can reimagine what it means to support one another \u2014 with power shared, meaning restored, and creativity at the center.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4907\" data-end=\"5040\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you would like to explore the Power Threat Meaning Framework in more depth, the full publication by Lucy Johnstone and Mary Boyle is freely available from the British Psychological Society:<\/span><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bps.org.uk\/member-networks\/division-clinical-psychology\/power-threat-meaning-framework\">https:\/\/www.bps.org.uk\/member-networks\/division-clinical-psychology\/power-threat-meaning-framework<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At RECASAS, we believe that healing begins when people are seen not as patients with symptoms, but as human beings with stories.For too long, emotional distress has been framed as a medical problem \u2014 something to be diagnosed, treated, or managed. Yet behind every so-called symptom lies a story of power, threat, and meaning: what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"2","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"floatbottom","share_float_style":"share-normal","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"3","show_author_box":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-715","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[39],"class_list":["post-2414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-paths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2416,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414\/revisions\/2416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2414"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}