On the 10th of October 2025, Thijs Burger defended his PhD thesis titled ‘Perspective matters in Recovery’, in the Agnietenkapel of the Universiteit van Amsterdam.
In this study, Thijs investigated ways to collaborative care in complex psychosis. Complex psychosis is defined as psychosis that is hard-to-manage long-term, and during which complex additional challenges occur.
Thijs was moved by the long and impressive histories of his patients with complex psychosis at Arkin/Mentrum. Usually, their stories contained long-term hardship for both themselves and their family, and fragmentation of care. And, during treatment, he encountered situations where perspectives on what should happen widely diverged, and no one seemed to hold the key to improvement. Not the people themselves, not their family, and not the treating clinicians.
Thijs’ work is embedded in the Academic Collaborative Center Psychotic Disorders where Arkin and Amsterdam UMC collaborate. The Academic Collaborative Center is led by prof. dr. Lieuwe de Haan.
Collaboration for recovery
This thesis explored perspectives that potentially help to improve care for people with a complex psychosis and their families. Thijs studied what’s needed to research people with complex psychosis. Then he examined why some patients have poor long-term outcomes, to generate hypotheses on the mechanisms behind it. Finally, he explored what patients with complex psychosis, their families, and professionals need to work together during recovery. This resulted in the development of a model of collaboration for recovery.
Two main questions Thijs was particularly interested in: how do we prevent a long-term admission for these patients? And how to understand and manage collaboration between patients, their family and professionals when perspectives are far apart?
This thesis shows that long-term mental healthcare for people with complex psychosis needs tailored approaches. It should provide lasting support, foster stable relationships, and prevent fragmentation. During collaboration between patients, family and professionals, it is crucial to acknowledge the diverging perspectives, uncertainty and struggle of all parties involved, and to combine building relationships and solving problems. This involves taking time to clarify wishes and needs, make explicit who is to decide when, on what issue (a “process” approach).
Research into practice
The healthcare system can benefit by facilitating relational and process-oriented approaches to care, and continuity of those involved. This may be done in two ways:
- Gearing long-term mental healthcare system towards these approaches, not time-and objective bound trajectories;
- Structurally implementing systemic practices in long-term clinical care.
On the 10th of October 2025, Thijs Burger defended his PhD thesis titled ‘Perspective matters in Recovery’, in the Agnietenkapel of the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Thijs’ thesis is supervised by L. de Haan, and co-supervised by M.B. de Koning and N.F. Schirmbeck. More information on this dissertation can be found on the website of Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Thijs Burger works as a psychiatrist and researcher at Arkin/Mentrum and Amsterdam UMC. His work is embedded in the Academic Collaborative Center Psychotic Disorders where Arkin and Amsterdam UMC collaborate. The Academic Collaborative Center is led by prof. dr. Lieuwe de Haan.