ABSTRACT
Hearing the person within can be one of the most important achievements for any therapist hoping to ease some of the suffering and isolation behind psychosis. Theories play their part in helping us to bridge the distance between ‘psychotic’ perceptions and those which are experienced by others as reflecting a more objective reality. If we can understand something of the underlying meaning and importance of a delusional or hallucinatory experience, we can begin to build a therapeutic relationship based on common humanity. Maybe the most fundamental contribution made by psychodynamic theory lies in its capacity to reframe the sometimes obscure disturbance of psychosis in terms of psychological needs and processes common to us all.
