COUNT ME IN –

July 21, 2022 – As a researcher with lived experience of psychosis, I wanted to understand how the meaning-making process impacts the potential for positive transformation and growth, post-psychotic break. In other words, how do the narratives available to us, the way our distress is framed, whether we are allowed to find meaning in intense experiences dismissed as a misfiring brain, impact the outcomes of psychotic crisis?

Psychosis can be a terrifying and disabling condition, and by no means do I wish to romanticize this state. Yet, for some, myself included, the “psychosis” (or what some prefer to call “extreme distress,” “spiritual emergency,” or “altered state”) became a catalyst for greater connection to self, others, and a sense of purpose. Such narratives are often written off as delusional or wishful thinking in favour of describing and monetizing psychosis as a burden on society; a path to chronic and disabling disease. Those with lived experience are deemed by psychiatry as “lacking insight” into their condition, echoing the paternalistic and discriminatory history of psychiatric treatment that is still used to justify human rights violations and coercive care. Yet psychiatry itself operates on a dangerous lack of insight, treating psychosis primarily with harsh medications despite no consistent evidence that psychosis is pathological.

By ignoring diverse conceptualizations of psychosis, we reduce hope and agency in those forced to accept a bleak diagnosis, and we obstruct the improvement of services.

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