TY - JOUR
T1 - “Did I push myself over the edge?”
T2 - Complications of agency in psychosis onset and development
AU - Jones, Nev
AU - Shattell, Mona
AU - Kelly, Timothy
AU - Brown, Robyn
AU - Robinson, La Vome
AU - Renfro, Richard
AU - Harris, Barbara
AU - Luhrmann, Tanya Marie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - Objective: To investigate the subjective experience of agency in the onset and early development of psychosis. Method: We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with a sample of individuals with self-reported diagnoses of schizophrenia and/or affective psychosis. Interviews focused on participants’ experiences of agency and control in the onset and development of positive psychotic symptoms. Interviews were coded and transcripts analyzed by service-user researchers. Results: The majority of participants reported multiple ways in which they experienced their own agency or intentionality as involved in the initial onset of psychosis, in self-conscious engagement with symptom structure and content, and in their elaboration and development. For many, the moral implications of these felt experiences were considerable, at times leading to shame or guilt. Conclusion: Clinical accounts often stress the imposed, involuntary experience of symptoms and onset. Our project suggests that at least a subset of subjects with psychosis instead experience themselves as partly or fully “responsible” for onset, and actively involved in the shaping and elaboration of positive symptoms. In both clinical practice and future research, we argue that such complications should be explored and grappled with rather than downplayed.
AB - Objective: To investigate the subjective experience of agency in the onset and early development of psychosis. Method: We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with a sample of individuals with self-reported diagnoses of schizophrenia and/or affective psychosis. Interviews focused on participants’ experiences of agency and control in the onset and development of positive psychotic symptoms. Interviews were coded and transcripts analyzed by service-user researchers. Results: The majority of participants reported multiple ways in which they experienced their own agency or intentionality as involved in the initial onset of psychosis, in self-conscious engagement with symptom structure and content, and in their elaboration and development. For many, the moral implications of these felt experiences were considerable, at times leading to shame or guilt. Conclusion: Clinical accounts often stress the imposed, involuntary experience of symptoms and onset. Our project suggests that at least a subset of subjects with psychosis instead experience themselves as partly or fully “responsible” for onset, and actively involved in the shaping and elaboration of positive symptoms. In both clinical practice and future research, we argue that such complications should be explored and grappled with rather than downplayed.
KW - agency
KW - first episode psychosis
KW - phenomenology
KW - psychosis onset
KW - subjective experience
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U2 - 10.1080/17522439.2016.1150501
DO - 10.1080/17522439.2016.1150501
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84961210691
SN - 1752-2439
VL - 8
SP - 324
EP - 335
JO - Psychosis
JF - Psychosis
IS - 4
ER -