ABSTRACT

Why do we need a model of madness? Such is the disturbing, overwhelming power of psychosis that therapists approaching work in this area can feel frightened and bewildered. Furthermore, the fact that most therapists have not heard voices nor experienced other psychotic disturbance and cannot hear the voices their clients hear, often means that they can quite simply be at a loss to empathise or understand the client’s experience and so may feel out of their depth. Engel (1977: 130) defined a model as ‘a belief system utilised to explain natural phenomena, to make sense out of what is puzzling or disturbing.’ A map of the territory can clarify the journey to be undertaken. Shamans had a cosmology that gave them a sense of direction during their trance journeys in search of the lost soul of the patient (Eliade, 1989). The model a therapist chooses must empower him or her to travel through the landscape of madness and accompany their clients on their healing journey.