What this blog is about (revisited)

After a bit more than two months of creating this blog, it seemed useful to remind myself, and any readers who might wander by, about the purpose of the blog. Below is the very first posting, back in January.

"This blog is about psychosis and particularly psychosis as it is experienced by young people. From a psychiatric point of view the term psychosis refers to “a loss of contact with reality”. In psychiatric practice psychosis manifests in one, or all, of three ways; as hallucinations (‘false’ perceptions), as delusions (‘false’ beliefs) and as disorganization.

My interest in psychosis in young people stems most directly from the ten years (1996-2005) when I was Clinical Nurse Specialist and Coordinator of the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program. During that time I had the privilege of getting to know hundreds of young people who were experiencing psychosis, and their parents. As I tried to help these young people and their families understand what they were experiencing and how to deal with it, I found myself drawing upon two sources of information from my own background, the neurosciences and the study and practice of Buddhism.

In this blog I will try to bring together information from those two sources (and any others I can find) with the practicalities of clinical care and recovery to accomplish two objectives. The first is to open a door into the complex world of psychosis in young people. The second is to use the concept of psychosis as a focal point for exploring the nature of human mental experience".

I dont' know to what extent the objectives of the blog have been accomplished; it's certainly an ongoing challenge.