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1 – 10 of over 12000Bianca Dos Santos and Vanessa Beavan
The distress that is associated with auditory hallucinations, or voices, is well documented. However, increasingly research into this phenomenon is also capturing those who cope…
Abstract
Purpose
The distress that is associated with auditory hallucinations, or voices, is well documented. However, increasingly research into this phenomenon is also capturing those who cope with their voices, and live meaningful lives. Peer support is a popular and useful way in which to learn to manage the distress for voice-hearers. The Hearing Voices Network (HVN) acts as an umbrella organisation for which research, training and peer support groups exist (www.intervoiceonline.org). Despite the growing amount of peer support groups established, there is to date no published material on these groups. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to explore the experiences of four informants across three New South Wales HVN groups.
Findings
Results suggest that the social connections, value of sharing and desire for more group members are all important within the group. Beyond the group, informants described the increased willingness to talk to others about their voice experiences, improvements in sense of self and a positive change in their relationship with their voices.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates the importance of peer participation in the mental health workforce and the provision of safe spaces for those with lived experience to share and learn from each other in meaningful ways. Research implications include the need for further research measuring outcomes on a larger scale for these support groups.
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This paper aims to provide a living tribute to the mental health activist and international trainer Peter Bullimore.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a living tribute to the mental health activist and international trainer Peter Bullimore.
Design/methodology/approach
Peter provided a list of people to who he wanted to provide tributes. Jerome approached all these people. All agreed.
Findings
Several people from around the world attest to the influence that Peter’s teaching and personality have had on their clinical practice and on their lives.
Research limitations/implications
The disappearance of an Open Mind has left a shortage of journals, which welcome the user perspective. Mental Health and Social Inclusion have always championed the voice of people with lived experience. These are selected tributes to one man’s work in the field of mental health.
Practical implications
These accounts provide insights into the work of a remarkable individual.
Social implications
Students of the mental health professions are mainly exposed to work produced by their peers. The history of mental health is filled with the stories of professionals, not the people who have used services.
Originality/value
Historically accounts of psychiatry are written by mental health professionals. Service user or lived experience accounts are often written from the perspective of the person’s story of illness and recovery. There are comparatively few, which celebrate the additional achievements of specific individuals with lived experience.
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Peter Bullimore and Jerome Carson
This paper seeks to offer a profile of Peter Bullimore, one of the most dynamic lived experience speakers and trainers in the mental health world.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to offer a profile of Peter Bullimore, one of the most dynamic lived experience speakers and trainers in the mental health world.
Design/methodology/approach
A profile of Peter is built up through an in‐depth interview by psychologist Jerome Carson. Areas covered include: his experience of hearing voices; his work in Australia and New Zealand; stigma; recovery; inspiring individuals in mental health; his personal illness and medication; the media; and changes and challenges.
Findings
Peter tells us that hearing voices are signs of a problem not an illness, and are often linked to trauma. He feels British work on recovery is in advance of that in Australia and New Zealand. He sees a day when it will no longer be necessary to use the term schizophrenia. Instead of recovery people should be thinking of discovery.
Originality/value
For too long the only voices that have been heard in the mental health field have been the professional voices. Peter's is one of many new inspirational voices to have emerged from the developing service user movement.
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Purpose – To explore an ethics of entanglement in the context of mental health and psychosocial research.Design/methodology/approach – To bring together debates within body and…
Abstract
Purpose – To explore an ethics of entanglement in the context of mental health and psychosocial research.
Design/methodology/approach – To bring together debates within body and affect studies, and specifically the concepts of mediated perception and the performativity of experimentation. My specific focus will be on voice hearing and research that I have conducted with voice hearers, both within and to the margins of the Hearing Voices Network (see Blackman, 2001, 2007).
Findings – The antecedents for a performative approach to experimentation and an ethics of entanglement can be found within a nineteenth-century subliminal archive (Blackman, 2012).
Originality/value – These conceptual links allow the researcher to consider the technologies that might allow them to ‘listen to voices’ and introduce the non-human into our conceptions of listening and interpreting. This directs our attention to those agencies and actors who create the possibility of listening and learning beyond the boundaries of a humanist research subject.
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John McEwan McManus, Styliani Gkika and Elaine Swift
Hearing voices can be a debilitating and traumatic experience, and psychiatric hospitals can feel unsafe and overstimulating to voice hearers. Research suggests this may prolong a…
Abstract
Purpose
Hearing voices can be a debilitating and traumatic experience, and psychiatric hospitals can feel unsafe and overstimulating to voice hearers. Research suggests this may prolong a service user’s admission time and lead to an unhelpful experience. Therefore, a hearing voices group (HVG) was developed to create a safe space where voice hearers could share their story with others with lived experience and access support.
Design/methodology/approach
The group was developed by the first author under the supervision of the inpatient psychology lead. Both a practice-based and expert by experience-based approach were considered during the development of the group structure. The group also aligned with the Hearing Voices Network and the Trust’s values. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the group using six five-point Likert scale questions and three open questions to collect the data, which was then analysed.
Findings
The themes from the qualitative data showed that staff and ward-based promotion of the group were paramount to ensuring patient engagement. The results also showed that voice hearers found the group therapeutic, and some found the coping skills shared to be beneficial and effective.
Research limitations/implications
A large percentage of women (76%) reported that they had attended a HVG before. This was not the case for service users from the male unit and psychiatric intensive care unit. This result is considered to reflect the fact that women in that unit had the opportunity to attend more than once during their admission, rather than that they had accessed these groups in other settings or in the community. Therefore, in the future, it would be useful to change this question to “have you attended any other HVGs in the past, prior to this admission?”, which might be more appropriate for data collection.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the original work of the first author, who is an expert by experience and an assistant psychologist. The results suggest that HVGs can be beneficial for patients in acute and intensive mental health care and highlight some necessary adaptations and the importance of adopting an MDT approach in promoting therapeutic groups.
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Sue Patterson, Nicole Goulter and Tim Weaver
The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience and impact of targeted training involving simulation of auditory hallucinations on attitudes and practice of professionals…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience and impact of targeted training involving simulation of auditory hallucinations on attitudes and practice of professionals working with people with mental illness.
Design/methodology/approach
Pragmatic mixed-method study. Data were collected from 83 professionals who completed training using cross-sectional survey and focus groups. Descriptive, comparative and thematic analyses were performed.
Findings
Training was associated with changes in thinking and attitude related to working with people who hear voices. Participants, who commonly found the simulation confronting, drew on the experience to deepen appreciation of coping with voices that are distressing and develop a new frame of reference for practice. They positioned themselves differently and described adopting a range of practices consistent with the recovery approach. Environmental constraints variously impacted on capacity to enact these practices.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted in one centre using a bespoke survey instrument with a sample intrinsically motivated to complete training. Hence, caution should be exercised with regard to generalisability. However, findings are consistent with the limited published literature and the mixed-method approach provided a comprehensive understanding.
Practical implications
The paper demonstrated that the training employed can support development of patient centred, recovery-oriented practices. These are likely essential to optimising patient and service outcomes. Further research is needed to examine the impact of training on a broader cross section of professionals and the outcomes for patients.
Originality/value
The paper provides important new insights regarding the mechanisms by which training can contribute to development of patient-centred care.
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Erica Mclnnis, William Sellwood and Clair Jones
This study reports a recovery‐themed cognitive behavioural educational group for clients suffering from chronic positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, on a low secure…
Abstract
This study reports a recovery‐themed cognitive behavioural educational group for clients suffering from chronic positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, on a low secure inpatient unit. Nine participants completed baseline and post‐intervention measures of insight, self‐esteem and knowledge about schizophrenia. Additional post‐intervention measures included compliance with medication, feelings about schizophrenia, qualitative views and access to the community. Overall, the results were positive within the limits of this small‐scale study. Following the intervention, most participants reported that they were less frightened about psychosis, and felt more in control of their illness and more optimistic about their future. This study suggests that there may be clinical benefits of having CBT‐orientated educational groups in low secure settings with clients with longstanding co‐existing positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Recovery style should be evaluated systematically in future studies.
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