In this video Dolly Sen, who has lived experience of psychosis, talks about CBT for psychosis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_jlCPtviC4
Following her recovery Dolly went on to work as a campaigner and advocate for people with mental health problems in the UK. Dolly has gone on to write about her experiences of the mental health system including the importance of the therapeutic relationship and collaborative nature of CBT for psychosis.
Here are some quotes which beautifully illustrate this from her piece: “What stays unsaid in therapeutic relationships.” (Sen, 2017)
“This therapy helped me see that psychosis is quite a logical process and that I had a definite road to psychotic crisis.”
“I listened because the therapist was warm and non-pathologising in her language.”
“She [the therapist] talked about lessening distress and never talked about fixing a disorder”
“I have not been in hospital since that therapy, because I have learned to put a spanner in the wheel of the cycle of psychosis”
“CBT for psychosis taught me to swim the turbulent waters of psychosis”
In the AMETHYST trial we are comparing two different psychological therapies for voices: CBT and avatar therapy. We hope to increase the evidence for delivering both of these therapies via telehealth in Australia, so that more people can access evidence-based psychological therapies for psychosis in the future.
If you would like to learn more about Dolly’s work you can visit her website here: www.dollysen.com
If you would like to check out her article you can find the citation and link here:
Sen, D. (2017). What stays unsaid in therapeutic relationships. Psychosis, 9(1), 90-94.