Trauma, Psychosis, and Problems in Human Relationship: Exploring the Connections

Psychosis is often understood as an illness that happens to people, a brain problem that has little to do with what has happened in that person’s relationships with others or in their relationship with themselves. Much evidence however points to a different reality, where psychosis quite often follows traumatic experience that damages both social and intrapersonal relationships, and where recovery typically involves the restoration of healthy relationships with both external and internal “others.” Treatment is different when we conceptualize psychosis as primarily a disturbance in relationships. The goal then shifts from suppressing “symptoms of psychosis” to first finding healthy ways for us to relate to the person with psychosis and then ways to help them rebuild trust and constructive relationships with family, friends, and others including the parts of themselves from which they may have become alienated. Let’s explore what is possible when working from this radically humanistic paradigm!