Finding Hope in the Lived Experience of Psychosis by Drs Patte Randal and Josephine Stanton1 explores psychosis from the outside and the inside, giving first-person accounts of two doctors’ personal and professional lives.
Patte experienced several episodes of psychosis over decades. She has suffered, and she has thrived. Both Patte and Josephine have struggled within the system to find ways to help people access what will help them heal.
Patte’s story shows how psychosis can be terrifying and deeply disturbing, how finding meaning can transform experiences that appear to be un-understandable, how alternatives to psychiatric hospitalisation matter and treatment by medication alone is insufficient. Care at home with family should be an option If there is enough support and safety.
Through the torment of psychosis and its aftermath, an important requirement for someone to heal is having people to be with, psychologically and physically beside them, having their back.
