Living with mental health issues: citizen science project on self-management strategies

People living with mental health issues use a range of self-management strategies. Most strategy recommendations have been developed by clinicians and researchers, so they may not reflect the full range of approaches used in practice. A citizen mental health science methodology can address this bias in strategy identification. We co-created a list of 77 pre-defined self-management strategies, and 1116 public contributors (n = 468 mental health service users, n = 497 lived experience not using services, n = 151 no lived experience) living in the United Kingdom completed an online survey identifying their use of each strategy, and identifying extra strategies. A wide range of pre-defined strategies were used by contributors, with differences in usage patterns identified between the three groups. 401 distinct extra strategies were identified. The active use of avoidance as a self-management strategy was more common than anticipated, including avoiding alcohol, social media, thinking about problems, other people, and mental health services.