[The concept of recovery: the importance of users' perspective and their participation]

The present paper develops the concept of recovery and its relationship with clinical aspects or symptomatic remission, as well as with other dimensions such as the experiential, physical, functional and social ones. Internal and external factors conditioning recovery are reviewed giving special emphasis to stigma, a powerful external factor that deeply affects recovery in mental illness. Users' perspective and participation in this process are considered to be essential and are compared to their place in traditional psychopharmological and psychotherapeutic treatments. As a conclusion, it is mentioned that users' participation movement and the concept of recovery could be central axes of mental health services and a turning point of a service delivery transformation for the next decades.