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Education: Famous individuals who have heard voices (e.g., Anthony Hopkins, Brian Wilson). It is helpful to see other well-known individuals who have dealt with a similar experience.
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Education: Recovery happens- It is important to let the client know that while the experience of psychosis can be quite frightening, it is also accurate to indicate that many people in fact achieve recovery. For example, across many studies recovery rates ranges from 60-80% depending upon the study and location. Recovery is common!
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A note on self-disclosure: It is not appropriate to share your problems with people you work with. However, it is often helpful to share information about yourself that indicates how common it is to experience certain things. For example, it may be appropriate to share that a mental health provider also procrastinates when it comes to completing some tasks or has trouble sleeping after feeling really stressed. When these experiences are shared, they can help to reduce the already strong feelings of alienation and isolation felt by many who deal with psychosis.
Effective Information-Sharing Strategies You probably noticed that most of the above examples involve sharing information. The act of educating is central to REP. And, as Pat Deegan, a well-known psychologist, advocate, and person with lived experience of psychosis, has stated, “Information is power, and information-sharing is power-sharing.” At the same time, it is important to recall the essential quality of a co-equal partnership in learning. Neither person is the ultimate expert, each partner offers ideas for consideration. In this sense, REP based information sharing is less like 1. “This is the answer, these are the facts”- people who take medicine hear voices less. (While based on evidence, this approach to presenting the information may feel imposed or too confrontational) 69
