ABSTRACT
Tony is a 40-year-old man with a history of psychosis since his 20s. He reported first experimenting with alcohol and cannabis when he was 15, and described what appeared to be his first visual hallucinatory experience a year later. In his late teens, Tony developed an interest in rock music and, as part of the music culture he was in, started experimenting with a variety of illegal drugs, including speed, LSD and acid: as a result he described having many ‘strange’ experiences, including visual and auditory hallucinations. He reported first hearing voices in his early twenties. Around the same time, two of his friends died in road traffic accidents, his grandfather died and the band he was playing in disbanded. Furthermore, he reported that his girlfriend decided to have an abortion without involving him in the decision. At this time, Tony described becoming paranoid: acute anxiety was diagnosed. Subsequently, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and was in and out over the next few years. When Tony was in his late twenties he took an overdose in response to voices telling him to kill himself and another hospital admission ensued. Since then he has lived with his parents while receiving support and treatment from community mental health services.
