Why people sometimes hear voices, believe things that others find strange, or appear out of touch with reality … and what can help.
“An individual having unusual difficulties in coping with his
environment struggles and kicks up the dust, as it were. I have used
the figure of a fish caught on a hook: his gyrations must look
peculiar to other fish that don’t understand the circumstances; but
his splashes are not his affliction, they are his effort to get rid of his
affliction and as every fisherman knows these efforts may succeed.”Karl Menninger
This report – edited by Anne Cook and published in 2016 by the British Psychological Society (Division of Clinical Psychology) – describes a psychological approach to experiences that are commonly thought of as psychosis, or sometimes schizophrenia. It complements parallel reports on the experiences commonly thought of as bipolar disorder and depression. It provides an overview of the current state of knowledge in the field, concluding that psychosis can be understood and treated in the same way as other psychological problems such as anxiety or shyness.
You can read the report here (as a downloadable pdf file).
