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John Read will be the key note speaker at a forthcoming conference which will explore the contemporary state of affairs with regard to the understanding and treatment of psychosis, and will propose a new relational and attachment orientated paradigm for the twenty-first century.
TELLING STORIES? ATTACHMENT-BASED APPROACHES TO THE TREATMENT OF PSYCHOSIS
Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH
People deemed psychotic have been marginalized in society; their expression of internal terror is itself experienced as terrifying and is managed as a public health issue, historically by incarceration and restraint and more recently with medication, beginning with the insulin shock therapy of the 1930s and chlorpromazine in the 1950s. This defensive, fear based reaction has left little scope for exploration and creativity in the field, with many questions remaining unanswered and the actual experiences of those with psychosis remaining, with a few notable exceptions, almost exclusively unheard.
We will locate past understandings of psychosis in their historical and cultural context, and, through multi-disciplinary dialogue, present an integrated attachment-based approach. In contrast to the containment model that is currently favoured, this will offer those with psychosis the possibility of more nourishing engagement with the world.
By appreciating an individual's psychotic story within a relational attachment framework, it is possible to see how they understand themselves in the world, their developmental journey, personal experience of trauma, and how this influences current patterns of behaviour.
Contextualizing psychosis in the light of real world experience enables an awareness of ‘madness’ as an adaptive response that employs whatever means to maintain attachment to significant others and ensure that person's survival. This adaption can echo both individual circumstance and the wider social structure, explaining trends such as the over-representation of c