ABSTRACT
It is widely accepted among mental health carers that patients with psychotic disorders present more extreme symptoms at the time of a full moon. Psychosis is unique as an illness because it not only invites us consistently to recognize the power of our unconscious minds, but also reminds us that we are all subject to forces beyond our control, even beyond that of our own planet. The predominant public perception of someone with a psychiatric diagnosis of psychosis, even in the twenty-first century, still invokes the image of a hapless victim with an abnormal brain and deviant crazy genes. Mercifully, there are new voices to be found within the ranks of psychiatry itself, in the form of The Critical Psychiatry Network, which is deeply sceptical about the reductionist claims of neuroscience to explain psychosis and other forms of emotional distress.
