Naming Futures: Recognition, Authority, and the Work of Care

Healing does not unfold in a vacuum; it is narrated and negotiated by patients, clinicians, families, and communities who define distress, assign its significance, and imagine possible futures and modes of healing. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Christians experiencing bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, this paper argues that visions of healing are influenced and shaped as much by interpretive authority as by symptom profiles. Diagnostic labels can limit future possibilities, whereas recognition—being seen as a person rather than a problem—fosters dignity, belonging, and agency. Integrating lived experiences with narrative theory and a theology of naming, the paper shows how co-narration in care settings shapes future possibilities: the stories communities allow, repeat, and protect create the futures or modes of healing people can live into. The paper proposes a relational model of healing centred on interpretive humility, recognition and shared authority.