This book offers first-person accounts of the experience of psychosis from the inside and the outside, through the eyes of two doctors, one of whom has experienced psychosis and both of whom have worked for decades in the field of psychiatry.
Underpinned by rigorous academic analysis using an evocative duo-ethnographic approach, the book explores the cultural and subcultural influences from childhood onwards – both traumatic and resilience-building – that have shaped their lives. Both authors reflect on strategies they learned early in life for dealing with challenges, each managing to function at a high level while avoiding awareness of their vulnerability. They reflect on the potential dangers of using their expertise and position of power in psychiatry simply to diagnose mental illness and prescribe medication. The differences and similarities in the authors’ stories provide a productive tension highlighting the complexities of this paradigm shift that is happening in psychiatry.
Written in the form of two interacting memoirs, this book is of great interest to researchers, clinicians, and practicing psychologists, as well as a general audience with interest in psychosis.
Author(s): Patte Randal, Josephine Stanton
Series: The International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis Book Series
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 250
City: London
Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Evocative Duo-Ethnography: The Methodology We Used to Write This Book
Part 1 Becoming Ourselves
Part Patte’s Story 1951–1980 (Birth to 29)
1 Trust and Betrayal: The Divided Self
2 Medical School: Skeletons, Cadavers, Gray’s Anatomy, and Desensitisation
3 An Extreme State and a Sense of Pathway
4 Research and Metaphor: Medical Nemesis
5 Completing Medical School: Examining Reflexes
Part Josephine’s Story 1954–1983 (Birth to 29)
6 Autonomy, Invulnerability, and a Commitment to Service
7 Losing Sight of Science and Walking Away From Love
8 Completing Medical School: Training to Be Superhuman and Joining the Medical Club
Part 2 Becoming Doctors and Choosing Psychiatry
Part Patte’s Story 1980–1995 (Ages 29–44)
9 The Pleasant Smell of Aftershave and the Imagined Relief of Not Existing
10 Worse Than a Nuclear Winter
11 Trust Betrayed: Confronting the Devil
12 Evolving From Atheism: A Spiritual Emergency
13 Defining the Essence of Psychiatry
Part Josephine’s Story 1985–1995 (Ages 31–41)
14 After Africa: Rekindling Passion for Medicine and Love
15 Feeling Lost in Psychiatry and Found in Mothering
16 Beginning to Find My Place in Psychiatry
17 Jumping Through Hoops and Becoming a Patient
Part 3 Learning From Experience
Part Patte’s Story 1996–2020 (Ages 45–69)
18 A Herculean Task: ‘Hope and a Future’
19 Something Wrong On the Inside: The Paradox
20 Finding My Voice … and Losing It Again
21 Side Effects, Spirituality, and Finding My Niche
22 Disruption in Meaning-Making: The Last Extreme State
23 Lighting a Candle for Justice
24 Ways of Making Sense
25 The Re-Covery Model
26 Living the Experience of Now: My Life Beyond Psychiatry
Part Josephine’s Story 1998 to Present Day (Ages 44–65)
27 Becoming a Psychiatrist: A Pathway of Impossible Jobs
28 My Alternative Training: Pathway to Becoming the Psychiatrist I Want to Be
Learning From Patte
Learning From People’s Lived Experience
Learning From Johnella Bird
Self-Determination Theory
Learning From Sports Coaches
Learning From Eckhart Tolle
29 Against All Odds: Maintaining My Personal and Professional Identity
Part Patte’s Story
30 Creative Energy and ‘The Gift Box’
Epilogue: It’s About Time
Meaning and Mattering
Embracing Vulnerability
Taking a Both/and Perspective, and Going Beyond This
Being With
Our Dream
References
Index
