Are you troubled by hearing voices or seeing visions that others do not? Do you believe that other people are trying to harm you or control you? Do you feel that something odd is going on that you can't explain or that things are happening around you with a special meaning? Do you worry that other people can read your mind or that thoughts are being put in your head? Think You're Crazy? Think Again provides an effective step-by-step aid to understanding your problems, making positive changes and promoting recovery.Written by experts in the field, this book will help you to: understand how your problems developed and what keeps them going; use questionnaires and monitoring sheets to identify and track changes in the links between your experiences, how you make sense of these and how you feel and behave; learn how to change thoughts, feelings and behaviour for the better; and, practice skills between sessions using worksheets. Based on clinically proven techniques and filled with examples of how cognitive therapy can help people with distressing psychotic experiences, Think You're Crazy? Think Again will be a valuable resource for people with psychosis.

Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis provides clinicians with a comprehensive cognitive model that can be applied to all patients with schizophrenia and related disorders in order to aid the development of a formulation that will incorporate all relevant factors. It illustrates the process of assessment, formulation and intervention and highlights potential difficulties arising from work with patients and how they can be overcome.
Experienced clinicians write assuming no prior knowledge of the area, covering all of the topics of necessary importance including:
* an introduction to cognitive theory and therapy
* difficulties in engagement and the therapeutic relationship
* how best to utilise homework with people who experience psychosis
* relapse prevention and management.
Illustrated by excerpts from therapy sessions, this book digests scientific evidence and theory but moreover provides clinicians with essential practical advice about how to best aid people with psychoses.

Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis provides clinicians with a comprehensive cognitive model that can be applied to all patients with schizophrenia and related disorders in order to aid the development of a formulation that will incorporate all relevant factors. It illustrates the process of assessment, formulation and intervention and highlights potential difficulties arising from work with patients and how they can be overcome. Experienced clinicians write assuming no prior knowledge of the area, covering all of the topics of necessary importance including: * an introduction to cognitive theory and therapy * difficulties in engagement and the therapeutic relationship * how best to utilise homework with people who experience psychosis * relapse prevention and management. Illustrated by excerpts from therapy sessions, this book digests scientific evidence and theory but moreover provides clinicians with essential practical advice about how to best aid people with psychoses.

Are hallucinations and delusions really symptoms of an illness called 'schizophrenia'? Are mental health problems really caused by chemical imbalances and genetic predispositions? Are psychiatric drugs as effective and safe as the drug companies claim? Is madness preventable? This second edition of Models of Madness challenges those who hold to simplistic, pessimistic and often damaging theories and treatments of madness. In particular it challenges beliefs that madness can be explained without reference to social causes and challenges the excessive preoccupation with chemical imbalances and genetic predispositions as causes of human misery, including the conditions that are given the name 'schizophrenia'. This edition updates the now extensive body of research showing that hallucinations, delusions etc. are best understood as reactions to adverse life events and that psychological and social approaches to helping are more effective and far safer than psychiatric drugs and electroshock treatment. A new final chapter discusses why such a damaging ideology has come to dominate mental health and, most importantly, how to change that. Models of Madness is divided into three sections: Section One provides a history of madness, including examples of violence against the 'mentally ill', before critiquing the theories and treatments of contemporary biological psychiatry and documenting the corrupting influence of drug companies. Section Two summarises the research showing that hallucinations, delusions etc. are primarily caused by adverse life events (eg. parental loss, bullying, abuse and neglect in childhood, poverty, etc) and can be understood using psychological models ranging from cognitive to psychodynamic. Section Three presents the evidence for a range of effective psychological and social approaches to treatment, from cognitive and family therapy to primary prevention. This book brings together thirty-seven contributors from ten countries and a wide range of scientific disciplines. It provides an evidence-based, optimistic antidote to the pessimism of biological psychiatry. Models of Madness will be essential reading for all involved in mental health, including service users, family members, service managers, policy makers, nurses, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, counsellors, psychoanalysts, social workers, occupational therapists, art therapists.

Are hallucinations and delusions really symptoms of an illness called 'schizophrenia'? Are mental health problems really caused by chemical imbalances and genetic predispositions? Are psychiatric drugs as effective and safe as the drug companies claim? Is madness preventable? This second edition of Models of Madness challenges those who hold to simplistic, pessimistic and often damaging theories and treatments of madness. In particular it challenges beliefs that madness can be explained without reference to social causes and challenges the excessive preoccupation with chemical imbalances and genetic predispositions as causes of human misery, including the conditions that are given the name 'schizophrenia'. This edition updates the now extensive body of research showing that hallucinations, delusions etc. are best understood as reactions to adverse life events and that psychological and social approaches to helping are more effective and far safer than psychiatric drugs and electroshock treatment. A new final chapter discusses why such a damaging ideology has come to dominate mental health and, most importantly, how to change that. Models of Madness is divided into three sections: Section One provides a history of madness, including examples of violence against the 'mentally ill', before critiquing the theories and treatments of contemporary biological psychiatry and documenting the corrupting influence of drug companies. Section Two summarises the research showing that hallucinations, delusions etc. are primarily caused by adverse life events (eg. parental loss, bullying, abuse and neglect in childhood, poverty, etc) and can be understood using psychological models ranging from cognitive to psychodynamic. Section Three presents the evidence for a range of effective psychological and social approaches to treatment, from cognitive and family therapy to primary prevention. This book brings together thirty-seven contributors from ten countries and a wide range of scientific disciplines. It provides an evidence-based, optimistic antidote to the pessimism of biological psychiatry. Models of Madness will be essential reading for all involved in mental health, including service users, family members, service managers, policy makers, nurses, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, counsellors, psychoanalysts, social workers, occupational therapists, art therapists.

Persecutory delusions, the unfounded beliefs that others intend harm to the individual, are a major psychiatric problem. They are a common feature of severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder and bipolar disorder, often lead to admission to psychiatric hospital, and are a cause of considerable distress to patients and carers. However, increasingly it is recognised that persecutory delusions reflect the severe end of a spectrum of paranoia, which also encompasses beliefs and worries about threats from others that are common in the general population. In the last ten years an increasing number of researchers and clinicians have focussed on explaining paranoid experience in both clinical and non-clinical populations, with fascinating results. This recent research is presented for the first time as a book. In this landmark publication, the three major authorities in the field bring together the current knowledge about the assessment, understanding, and treatment of persecutory delusions. Leading experts in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, social psychiatry, neuroimaging, and neuroscience explain their perspectives on paranoia. Pharmacological, cognitive, and family interventions are comprehensively reviewed, and personal accounts of paranoia are included.

Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a severe mental illness which has a substantial impact on the sufferer, carers, and mental health services. Its impact is similar to that of schizophrenia. However, in contrast to schizophrenia, it has, until recently, been almost entirely neglected by psychological researchers. It is only in the last few years that substantial psychological research programmes in the UK and USA have begun to explore the role of psychosocial factors in the disorder. Yet an understanding of these influences will be essential for those trying to understand how we can treat those suffering from BPD. This volume is the first to bring together reviews of the exciting developments taking place in this field, with chapters from the leading researchers. It presents a broad overview of the psychological and psychosocial factors involved in bipolar disorder, including chapters, amongst others, on risk factors, early warning signs, and treatment.