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Understanding the trauma gap in severe mental distress : a narrative study of individuals with sensitivity to psychosis

Braak, T. ter (2022) Understanding the trauma gap in severe mental distress : a narrative study of individuals with sensitivity to psychosis.

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Abstract:Even though there is a high prevalence of trauma in psychosis, trauma often remains ignored and undertreated in mental healthcare. Accumulating evidence suggests that trauma care in psychosis is as effective and safe as in other populations. Nevertheless, there is little understanding on the experiences of individuals with sensitivity to psychosis on trauma-informed care. Therefore, the aim of this narrative study was to explore what kind of trauma-informed care individuals with sensitivity to psychosis seek and receive, and how they perceive their trauma-informed care. An existing data set of stories about personal recovery formed the basis of this study. The stories were collected through the “Psychiatry Story Bank”, a project started by the department of psychiatry of the University Medical Centre of Utrecht (The Netherlands). This study focused on a subgroup of the initial project: participants who experienced multiple episodes of psychosis, experienced trauma, and were seeking trauma-informed care. The participants shared their story through an open interview. In total, five stories were analysed based on holistic content analysis. The results corroborate the initial assumption that trauma in psychosis is often ignored and undertreated in mental healthcare. The participants were looking for acknowledgement of their trauma, in order to receive care for this. However, they experienced that mental healthcare often did not pay attention to their trauma. When trauma was acknowledged, the participants were often refused care and did therefore not receive the desired trauma-informed care from mental healthcare. As a result, the participants sought their own trauma-informed care. Despite the differences in the kind of care they ended up with, which was quite varied, all participants told about a journey in finding appropriate care. Their search could involve mental health care and therapy treatments, but often moved outside of mainstream psychotherapy. All forms of care involved a good therapeutic relationship, which seems to be an important factor of why all self-sought care is perceived as effective. This narrative study provides a contribution to a better understanding of what individuals with sensitivity to psychosis seek in trauma-informed care and receive, but also how this is perceived. The findings point out the importance of professionals to focus on psychological processes underlying psychosis and to treat trauma in individuals with sensitivity to psychosis, with more attention to the therapeutic relationship in order to positively affect treatment outcomes.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92691
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