How psychosis interrupts the lives of women and men differently: a qualitative comparison.

PURPOSE: Psychosis disrupts how persons experience themselves and their lives. Despite knowledge that gender differences have been noted in presentation and course of psychosis symptoms, little is known about differences in how men and women experience these disruptions. METHOD: The narratives of 26 men and 27 women diagnosed with psychosis, matched on age, education, and race, of the impact of psychosis on one's life, were compared. Using secondary data from semi-structured interviews, themes were identified using inductive, phenomenological qualitative analyses. RESULTS: Women and men discussed psychosis-related interruptions to the roles and relationships that shape their identity. Both genders discussed the impact of psychosis on their sense of self, work, and relationships. Nuanced gender differences emerged, informing unique areas of challenge related to (1) parenting and loss of parenting roles, (2) work and loss or changes in work trajectories, (3) isolation and strain on interpersonal relationships, and (4) manifestations of stigma. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosis may disrupt distinct aspects of life for men and women. Each gender faces the intersection of socially informed expectations that impact one's experiences of stigma, expectations of others, and manifestations of losses felt in one's role and sense of identity. Findings inform important considerations for therapy and other services. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Gender-based socialized expectations, losses, and challenges that accompany psychosis are important areas for therapeutic consideration. Current treatments may neglect challenges that are more commonly experienced by women with psychosis.

Meaning, integration, and the self in serious mental illness: Implications of research in metacognition for psychiatric rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVE: It has been established that recovery is a common outcome for adults diagnosed with serious mental illness which involves objective and subjective phenomenon. While considerable work has examined objective aspects of recovery, it remains difficult to know how to quantify the processes which support more subjective aspects of recovery related to sense of self. This article explores the potential of recent research on metacognition to offer new avenues to measure the processes which make a sense of self available within the flow of life. METHOD: Emerging definitions of metacognition using an integrative model of metacognition are reviewed. Research is presented suggesting adults diagnosed with serious mental illness are often confronted by metacognitive deficits which interfere with their ability to make sense of their psychiatric challenges and effectively direct their own recovery. FINDINGS: Metacognitive capacity may be a quantifiable phenomenon which contributes to certain aspects of recovery related to meaning making, agency and self-direction. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Promoting metacognitive capacity may be a previously unrecognized active element of existing rehabilitative interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Reflection and Recovery from Psychosis during the Time of COVID-19: Adaptation in Psychotherapy in the United States / La reflexión y la recuperación de la psicosis durante el COVID-19: adaptación en la psicoterapia de EE UU

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic several adaptations have allowed us to continue to provide one form of recovery-oriented psychotherapy to persons with psychosis: Metacognitive Insight and Reflection Therapy (MERIT). These successful adaptations have included the incorporation of patients' experience of the pandemic and the exploration of challenges from temporary changes in therapy platforms to deepen reflections about patients' self-experience, their experience of intersubjectivity and their own agentic responses to psychosocial challenges

En respuesta a la pandemia del coronavirus (COVID-19) varias adaptaciones han permitido que sigamos facilitando una de las formas de psicoterapia orientada a la recuperación de las personas que padecen psicosis: la terapia de percepción metacognitiva y reflexión (MERIT). Estas adaptaciones satisfactorias incluyen la incorporación de la experiencia de los pacientes de la pandemia y el uso de los desafíos que plantean los cambios temporales en las plataformas terapéuticas con objeto de profundizar en la reflexión sobre la autoexperiencia de los pacientes, su experiencia en intersubjetividad y sus propias respuestas a los desafíos psicosociales