Psychosis, trauma and dissociation new insights and new ... - ISPS-US

Psychosis: How to succeed and fail at creating a new realityDr Brian MartindaleBrian will be proposing that it is possible that dissociation / splitting (of too painful personalreality) is the central mechanism in all psychosis. Like Heinz products, splitting comes in atleast 57 varieties. The skill lies in recognising what is being dissociated and in which part of themind/ brain it is taking place and what mental processes are involved in further disguisingpersonal ‘reality’.Specific types of adversity affect specific cognitive and emotional processes, leading tospecific symptoms: The case of trauma, dissociation and hallucinationsProfessor Richard BentallFor the past century researchers and clinicians have attempted to explain severe mental illnessby trying to find common biological or psychological abnormalities underlying a wide range ofsymptoms grouped together under a single diagnosis such as 'schizophrenia'. This approachhas failed and there is growing evidence that specific types of unusual experiences ('symptoms'in the language of psychiatry) are the consequence of specific psychological and emotionalmechanisms, which in turn are influenced by events early in life. This talk will illustrate thisapproach by contrasting the processes involved in paranoid beliefs and hallucinatory voices,focusing on recent studies which show specific associations between trauma, dissociation andvoices.