ABSTRACT
It is recognised that there needs to be more of an attempt to involve service users themselves in research (Rogers et al. 1993, p. 12). This short section is therefore aimed at people recovering from all manner of illnesses, be they mental disorders, neurological problems, general medical problems or whatever. I sincerely hope that some of you reading this will indeed take up my challenge to pursue research in this vein; your inside knowledge, I assure you, will be greatly valued by the professions (see for example Bentall 1992; Claridge 1993; Pilling 1995). Your task will be difficult, perhaps very difficult; indeed, I should warn you of this, but it will not by any means be fruitless. In these few pages I will outline some of the problems you could well face in your task, and I’ll try and give you some guidelines about how to get started. If you are forewarned you may well be forearmed! You will have to tailor and amend what I say below, however, to fit your own particular scenario.
