The psychodynamic development model of psychosis and its psychosocial application
Psychosis and complex mental health problems pose significant challenges for those working professionally with or caring personally for affected people. The Psychodynamic Development Model of Psychosis provides professionals with understanding and skills which enable them to identify ways to constructively respond to and contain psychotic disturbance.
This approach facilitates increased ability of professionals to engage and maintain engagement with people affected by psychosis and complex mental health problems. This ensures more effective and consistent delivery of health and social care interventions and improved psychosocial outcomes for service users / patients / clients.
The Living with Psychosis workshop introduces a pragmatic perspective on the vulnerability to psychotic disturbance as an evolved potential of the human mind. Rather than seeing psychosis as the manifestation of non-intentional pathological brain processes, it is conceptualised as the expression of a mind which has acquired particular structures and psychosocial functioning through specific developmental processes in early life.
Vulnerability to psychosis is identified as persistance of an omnipotent part of infantile psycho-sexual development into adult life. This leads to difficulties negotiating the inevitable challenges associated with acquiring and maintaining an adult social / sexual position and relationships.
The Living with Psychosis workshop introduces this perspective and its psychosocial application; making manifestations of psychosis intelligible and responsive, in terms of their preoccupation with social / sexual status and relating.
The workshop provides an introduction to the key aspects of the psychodynamic development model of psychosis and its application in clinical and psychosocial settings.
The workshop is of theoretical and practical interest to mental health and social care professionals as well as students and trainees.
Participants will be provided with copies of key papers / documents and an extended further reading list.
Workshop Outline
- psychodynamic development model of psychosis
- evolutionary role of human premature birth
- infantile dependence and function of omnipotence
- encapsulation of infantile omnipotence
- diagnosis
- oedipal structure / triangulation / reality
- desire and guilt
- repression, projective identification, disavowal
- neurosis / psychosis spectrum
- psychosocial engagement model
- differentiating psychotic and non-psychotic parts
- recognizing psychotic motivation
- relating to psychosis / diplomatic intervention
- clinical and psychosocial examples
Workshop facilitators
Paula Conway; Andreas Ginkell