PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to describe a method to help patients with long-term mental illness describe their life situations--their "life worlds"--through photography.

CONCLUSIONS: Photographs and interviews are useful for data collection. The positive effect of this method is allowing informants who have long-term mental illnesses to express their perceptions.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nurses can use photography in conjunction with interviews to ascertain the life worlds of their patients.

PURPOSE: To illuminate user experiences of schizophrenia, reasons for receiving antipsychotic medication, and encounters with mental health services.

DESIGN AND METHODS: 24 semistructured qualitative research interviews with schizophrenia patients treated with 3-monthly paliperidone palmitate across Scandinavia were synthesized in qualitative content analysis.

FINDINGS: Participants describe considerable challenges in everyday functioning. Simultaneously, they rate their current mental and physical well-being high and seem satisfied with their lives. These pathways indicate personal recovery.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The participants emphasize the importance of trustful relations with healthcare professionals, therapeutic conversations, antipsychotic medication in a 3-monthly formulation, and support from relatives.