Qualitative research has been met with growing interest in recent years. Several trends in medical and psychiatric practice, including patient orientation, the recovery movement and the search for evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions, have propelled scientific inquiry into subjective perspectives on experiencing mental health problems, their consequences, and psychiatric services. While initially largely criticised as lacking scientific rigour, the value of qualitative research has increasingly been recognised, following a certain disenchantment with genetic research, the acknowledgement of methodological limitations in measuring subjective constructs such as needs, quality of life or stigma with standardised tools, and the definition of clear quality criteria for qualitative studies.

Multiple databases (Ovid Medline, PsycINFO, PsychLit, Cochrane Reviews) were scanned for relevant publications in the period from 1990 to 2007.

A proliferation of qualitative literature could be noted, especially from 2000 onward. Published research focuses on patients’ and caregivers’ experiences of mental health problems (subjective illness models, stigma, help-seeking motivations) and of using mental health services (expectations, empowerment, service evaluation). Among mental health professionals, experiences of service provision (service development, job motivation, stress & burnout) were studied.

Qualitative methods are becoming an integral part of the methodological canon of psychiatric research. This presentation gives an overview of publication trends regarding topics covered, journals featuring qualitative papers, and methodological quality criteria. It further focuses on fields of application for qualitative vs. quantitative methods and discusses specific requirements on scientific writing in publishing qualitative data.