Introduction

This volume is intended to provide clinicians, academics and students with an understanding of the possible relationships between the experience of trauma (early sexual, physical and emotional abuse for the most part, although it is recognised that revictimisation and traumatic stressors in adulthood are also important) and the range of phenomena currently referred to as psychosis. The contributors to this volume are clinicians and researchers recognised as leaders in the field of trauma and psychosis. The contributors represent a variety of professional backgrounds, including clinical psychology, mental health nursing and psychiatry. The majority of the contributors write from a cognitive psychological perspective, while others are more eclectic in their theoretical orientation.