The right to narrative freedom

This chapter will conceptualize and discuss the idea of “narrative freedom” and suggest that it may be perceived as a human right. We view narrative freedom in mental health—i.e. the person's right to tell his/her story of mental distress and recovery—as an act of social inclusion that gives voice to lived experience and is one of the core foundations of lived experience-based practices. The concept of narrative freedom will be discussed in relation to the ongoing medicalization of mental health, and we will suggest how and why this freedom may be restricted, from within the person as well as from without. We will then challenge the biomedical “single story” of mental disorders and call for epistemic pluralism that accepts many different truths and realities. Such pluralism, in theory as well as in practice, can promote dialogue that is constructed from a polyphony of coexisting voices, within the person and in society.