Background: Despite repeated attempts, it has not been possible to reach a consensus on the definition of recovery. In this paper, we use the term “institutional recovery” and focus on the persons’ use of services.

Aim: What type of services were used by men and women who were diagnosed for the first time with psychosis? How did different cut-offs of length of follow up influence the findings?

Method: Interventions for 386 persons diagnosed for the first time with psychosis were followed up for 10 years. Data were collected from registers covering psychiatric and social work services and prisons.

Results: Results varied according to cut-off. Nevertheless, even using the higher cut-off, fifty-five percent of the persons had no stay in 24/7 institutions during the follow-up’s last 5 years. More than 40% had only community-based treatment and support. Fifteen percent had no interventions at all. A 2-year cut-off doubled the percentage of persons with no interventions. No statistically significant gender differences were found.

Conclusions: Institutional recovery could be a useful recovery measure. However, the results from different studies are dictated by choices made by the research team, which should be clarified and discussed.