ERIC Number: EJ900174
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Oct
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1557-1874
EISSN: N/A
Psychosis and Transformation: A Phenomenological Inquiry
Nixon, Gary; Hagen, Brad; Peters, Tracey
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, v8 n4 p527-544 Oct 2010
Conventional views towards psychosis typically portray psychosis as an illness of the brain with a generally poor prognosis, even if treated with antipsychotics. However, there is a growing body of literature which presents an alternative view of psychosis, whereby people are not only able to recover from psychosis, but can also experience transformative and/or spiritual growth through psychosis. To learn more about the transformative potential of psychotic experiences, a phenomenological approach was used to research the experiences of six people who self-identified as having benefited from psychosis in a spiritual and/or transformative manner. Keys themes emerging from interviews with these six individuals included in the pre-psychosis phase "childhood foreshadowing" and "negative childhood events," and in the psychosis phase, "sudden psychosis," "psychic/intuitiveness and unusual visual experiences," "comprised day-to-day functioning," "experiences of dying," and "communication with god." Four themes made up the transformation of psychosis phase including "detachment and mindfulness," "accepting the dissolution of time into now," "embracing a spiritual pathway," and "re-alignment of career path." Overall, the results suggest that at least for some individuals, the experience of psychosis can be an important catalyst for spiritual and personally transformative growth.
Descriptors: Psychosis, Phenomenology, Spiritual Development, Interviews, Career Change, Individual Development
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A