ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the service user’s experience of psychosis to promote person-centred practice. It discusses the impact of stress, trauma and implications for psychosocial intervention. The chapter provides some methods for engaging and working in creative ways with service users towards recovery to promote social inclusion. It examines practice strategies for service user self-management and building resilience. The concept of schizophrenia, with its roots in the medical model, is one that has been contested by psychologists, sociologists and service users. The person’s experiences frequently attributed to signs of schizophrenia can in fact be interpreted from a range of perspectives by both professionals and the person themselves. The updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines continue to support the use of psychosocial therapies for people experiencing psychosis and associated emotional problems. In addition to these, healthy eating and physical activity programmes, supported employment programmes, smoking cessation support, peer support and self-management.
