With ever more detailed models of the neurobiological and social systems out of which schizophrenia is born, it is possible to overlook how suffering persons actually experience their symptoms.This book examines the experiences of persons who suffer from schizophrenia. It provides a highly readable and humane examination of this common condition.

In Transactional Analysis of Schizophrenia: The Naked Self, Zefiro Mellacqua presents a full assessment of the relevance and value of transactional analysis in understanding, conceptualizing and treating schizophrenia in contemporary clinical settings. Opening with a review of Eric Berne’s ideas, Mellacqua applies theory to the understanding and psychotherapeutic treatment of people suffering from first-episode schizophrenia and to those already living with more long-lasting psychotic levels of self-disturbance. The chapters address a series of crucial methodological themes, including the need for both intensive and extensive analytic sessions; the therapist’s tolerance of uncertainty and not knowing; the informative quality of both therapist’s and patient’s embodiment(s); the emergence of the transference-countertransference relationship; the link between silent transactions and unconscious communication; dream analysis; and the value of regular supervisions. Mellacqua’s approach incorporates meetings with family and caregivers, as well as emphasising multidisciplinary work with patients in a variety of settings, such as in hospitals, outpatient clinics, and psychiatric home treatment. The book is illustrated with engaging clinical case studies throughout, which illuminate the schizophrenic experience and provide examples of how these tools can be used to help patients. Transactional Analysis of Schizophrenia demonstrates how those who suffer from acute schizophrenia, especially those at their very first episode of psychosis, can make an effective recovery and live a satisfying life through the therapeutic application of transactional analysis. It will be essential reading for transactional analysts, psychodynamically oriented psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, academics and all mental health professionals working with people suffering from schizophrenic psychoses. See the below link for an interview about the book with Gianpiero Petriglieri and series editor William F. Cornell: https://vimeo.com/499800269

The Divided Self, R.D. Laing's groundbreaking exploration of the nature of madness, illuminated the nature of mental illness and made the mysteries of the mind comprehensible to a wide audience. First published in 1960, this watershed work aimed to make madness comprehensible, and in doing so revolutionized the way we perceive mental illness. Using case studies of patients he had worked with, psychiatrist R. D. Laing argued that psychosis is not a medical condition, but an outcome of the 'divided self', or the tension between the two personas within us: one our authentic, private identity, and the other the false, 'sane' self that we present to the world. Laing's radical approach to insanity offered a rich existential analysis of personal alienation and made him a cult figure in the 1960s, yet his work was most significant for its humane attitude, which put the patient back at the centre of treatment. Includes an introduction by Professor Anthony S. David. 'One of the twentieth century's most influential psychotherapists' Guardian 'Laing challenged the psychiatric orthodoxy of his time ... an icon of the 1960s counter-culture' The Times

A highly user friendly guide for people suffering from Schizophrenia. Describes how to stay on medication, deal with job situations, self-esteem and relationships. Parents or family members of psychiatric consumers should purchase this book and read it to their ill relative. Created by an award winning columnist who is also recovered from Schizophrenia, and who is currently maintaining his treatment.

A concise review of current research into suicide providing a guide to understanding this disease and its increasing incidence globally.

The Recovery of the Self in Psychosis details specific therapeutic approaches as well as considers how treatments can be individually tailored and adapted to help persons whose mental health challenges may be either mild or more severe. By focusing on basic elements of the experiences of persons diagnosed with psychosis and exploring the broader meanings these experiences have, each of these treatments offers distinctive ways to help persons define and manage their own recovery. The book includes measurable therapeutic processes, an empirically supported conceptual basis for understanding disturbances in self-experience and rich descriptions of the recovery process. The Recovery of the Self in Psychosis moves beyond approaches which dictate what health is to persons with psychosis through education. It will be essential reading for all clinical psychologists and psychotherapists working with people diagnosed with psychosis.

Self-consciousness is a topic of considerable importance to a variety of empirical and theoretical disciplines such as developmental and social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry, and philosophy. This volume presents essays on self-consciousness by prominent psychologists, cognitive neurologists, and philosophers. Some of the topics included are the infants’ sense of self and others, theory of mind, phenomenology of embodiment, neural mechanisms of action attribution, and hermeneutics of the self. A number of these essays argue in turn that empirical findings in developmental psychology, phenomenological analyses of embodiment, or studies of pathological self-experiences point to the existence of a type of self-consciousness that does not require any explicit I —thought or self-observation, but is more adequately described as a pre-reflective, embodied form of self-familiarity. The different contributions in the volume amply demonstrate that self-consciousness is a complex multifaceted phenomenon that calls for an integration of different complementary interdisciplinary perspectives. (Series B)