Patricia E. Deegan is an American disability-rights advocate, psychologist and researcher. She has been described as a "national spokesperson for the mental health consumer/survivor movement in the United States." Deegan is known as an advocate of the mental health recovery movement (a cofounder of the National Empowerment Center) and is an international speaker and trainer in the field of mental health. Deegan co-founded M-POWER (Massachusetts People/Patients Organized for Wellness, Empowerment and Rights) and created CommonGround, “a web application to support shared decision making in the psychopharmacology consultation.”

Personal life

Deegan was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. She credits her grandmother with putting her on the road to recovery. Deegan is a lesbian. Together with her partner of 30 years, Deborah Anderson, they have raised a daughter, Chianne.

Academia

Deegan received her B.S. from Fitchburg State College in 1977 and her PhD in clinical psychology from Duquesne University in 1984. Her dissertation titled "The use of diazepam in an effort to transform being anxious: An empirical phenomenological investigation" was conducted under the supervision of William F. Fischer. Deegan is a phenomenological psychologist, whose writings include rich autobiographical accounts of her experience living with schizophrenia, and emphasize that recovery from serious mental illness is possible. She also served as an adjunct professor at the Dartmouth College Medical School, Department of Community and Family Medicine and the Boston University, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Honors and recognition

Research and professional interests

Electronic decision support and shared decision making. Specialist in qualitative research focusing on recovery from mental illness, the effectiveness of self-help and mutual-support, mental health systems change and research on ex-patient perspectives on the history of mental health services.

Publications

Films

Sample of media interviews

Sample of major Lectures

Footnotes

Citations