Table 2 Experiences of recovery, life worth living, and being healthy and beyond linked to transcribed interview data

1

8

Identifies as “recovered”; “has a life worth living”; “a good life”; life “exciting” “fun” “beautiful”

1; 2; 4

2

3

Feels “90% recovered”; “I want to live and that’s why it’s so good to say that it’s a life worth living.” Life today feels like “a valuable gift that…means a lot to have received.”

1; 4; 5

3

3

Objectively “recovered” but prefers to view herself as resilient; has life worth living; Life “exciting” “fun” “free”. “Sometimes I stop and think that I am lucky and that I have such a fantastic life”

1; 3–4, 6; 8

4

8–10

Has recovered. Has a life worth living - feels meaningful; life can be beautiful and in periods “absolutely extraordinary magical”

1; 4; 7–8

5

5–6

Is recovered. “[Life] as it is now I could not even dream that it would be”. Life “absolutely” worth living. “Adversity… is always [there] but does not overthrow me anymore”. “Resilience”

1; 2; 3

6

5

Fully and completely recovered. Life worth living “this is a life I wanted for very many years” “…it is very beautiful to be able to take part in different parts of life.”

1; 2; 3

7

10–11

“Recovered and Healthy. Completely.” “I live a life worth living and that is meaningful. I, in my studies, I am somehow on my way to fulfilling a dream I have had for a very, very long time”

1; 2

8

5 in total, 2 following a difficult year

Identifies as “recovered”; life “mostly” worth living and meaningful. “Life is fun”; “in short moments Beautiful”

1; 3

9

5

“I do not think of myself as recovered, rather as … healthy. [I] feel very far from … borderline and stuff, sometimes I almost forget it. “Absolutely experience” life as worth living. “It is very wonderful to be able to go out into the world”

1; 2; 3