Recovery Norway was initiated in 2017 and formally established as a Norwegian organization in 2018. It was expanded as an international network in 2019. Recovery consists of people who have recovered from ME/CFS (myalgic encephalopathy or chronic fatigue syndrome) and similar health issues. Its mission is to create understanding of the health problems as well as justified hope of recovery based on our members’ stories, experiences and insights. We believe this can lead to solutions to illnesses that are often presented as ‘mysteries’ of health and disease.
Recovery Norway wishes to help those suffering right now through the insight of those who have put their suffering behind them. Their insights are key to making progress. Recovery can be seen as a project of public enlightenment run by people who have themselves had the problem and recovered. The goal is to help individuals and improve population health through hope and first-person knowledge of what causes and improves the problem.
Most members of Recovery Norway have previously had a diagnosis of ME/CFS. However, it is also open to those who have recovered from other health issues that are typically dubbed ‘medically unexplained’, ‘functional’ og ‘psychosomatic’, such as burnout, functional seizures, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), irritable bowel syndrome or fibromyalgia (and chronic pain conditions).
Recovery Norway is an independent organisation run on an entirely voluntary basis. We have no paid employees, and run the association in our free time. Our members’ motivations are altruistic. They could have chosen to put their illness behind them, but instead they choose to get involved on behalf of those who are still suffering, perhaps receiving little help and living in a state of hopelessness.
Our members
Our members have all recovered through methods broadly characterised by aspects of cognitive/mental techniques, change of thought patterns, actions and/or social interactions. Family members can also join. We assume that such techniques or strategies have the potential to change the brain and through that physiological processes in the body as well as how one perceives the body.
Our members thus have not primarily had experiences with pharmacological treatment or diets. We also emphasise that the methods they have uses and their stories must on the whole be in alignment with a scientific model of the human being, disease and health.
We do not recommend any specific treatments, and do not have any income from treatments or methods that are mentioned on our webpage. We wish to recruit members who have recovered with the help of various methods within the boundaries described above, and we do not promote any specific method.
The stories on this webpage are posted for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to substitute for medical or other professional advice. Consult your physician or other health care provider regarding your symptoms and medical needs.
Advice and guidance
Recovery Norway does not make any claims about how many can get well from strategies like the ones our members have used, although we do think they are evidence that it is possible. We do acknowledge stories of people who have experienced worsening symptoms after such strategies too, and we think this is one reason for doing more research.
Professionals about Recovery
“Fantastic job, what an outstanding webpage. I have already read 7 stories, and it is very exciting to have this ‘gift’ at the end of the career! Finally, I get a tool for my practice, as well as beginning to get a language for the feeling I’ve been having for decades”
Swedish paediatrician and specialist in general practice
Former president of WONCA, a global network for general practice
“I had one patient in my clinic who suffered from ME. Came to me with something else. But questioned what had caused him/her to now become better with regard to ME, it was the page Recovery Norway. It was motivation, tips and hope from other people’s stories. So, it is a fine resource Recovery Norway has created”
physiotherapist, specialist in manual therapy
“I work with fatigued adolescents. My perception is that the agenda of Recovery Norway is to make it known that it is possible to get well. This is undercommunicated. Recovery does a great job in highlighting the positive stories, and this is important as it is not possible to succeed using cognitive therapy without believing that it is worth trying. It is also true that not everybody succeed, and that is important to know, but from my point of view the whole justification of Recovery Norway is that the whole public debate has been biased is such a way that we have seldom heard from those who have recovered. I think that these stories are important, and Recovery deserves praise for the job they do”