Recovery from extreme states (aka: psychosis)
Whether you choose to see psychosis or other extreme states of consciousness as healing crisis of the psyche or you consider it spiritual emergency, hundreds of people find their way through them without meds or with meds only for a short time (often coerced).
This is a collection of stories of people who have come through such episodes. Sometimes lasting months, other times lasting years. But they have all fully recovered.
This page will be continually added to as I find more information. I intend to add a book section soon.
This list is by no mean exhaustive.
- David Lukoff’s story of psychosis and recovery
- Paul Levy’s Story of Transformation
- Another recounting from Paul Levy—visit his site and listen to the Madness Radio interview
- Sean’s experience with manic psychosis and the transformation that followed
- Sean’s understanding after a year of study
- The Doctor who hears voices—a documentary that chronicles the healing journey of a young woman in an extreme state being cared for a man whose been there himself–Rufus May
- Rufus May talking about his own story on Madness Radio–also transformed from psychotic to “ordinary” human being—that’s what we all are!!
- A post with multiple links looking at the wonder that is Pat Deegan’s life
- Documentary on the lives of two women who work through their psychosis
- Dr. Edward Whitney’s manic psychosis that resolved itself with a spiritual understanding
- Recovery through mind training —a journey of meditation in Buddhism—By Sally Clay
- SFJane’s Story of Recovery: Her blog is here. A healing brought about mostly by 10 years of daily intensive meditation
- The Wind Never Lies — Steve Morgan’s Recovery Story
- The heroines journey –recovery using Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung
Websites:
- Spiritual Emergency
- Spiritual Recovery
- Successful Schizophrenia
- Soteria House—drug free healing house for those in psychosis
- Recovery from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders —-Ron Unger’s blog—experiencer for extreme states and now a practicing Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Books to help understand the process our minds go through while in extreme states:
- A Quiet Mind: A Mystic Journey OUT of Insanity, Sean Blackwell (free online! I also have a copy in PDF format if you send me an email I’ll send it to you. This is Gianna speaking)
- Trials of the Visionary Mind – John Weir Perry
- The Stormy Search for Self, Dr. Stan Grof
- Soteria, Dr. Loren Mosher and Voyce Hendrix
- Spiritual Emergency, Edited by Dr. Stan and Christina Grof
- The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle
- Mad in America - Robert Whitaker
- A Brief History of Everything – Ken Wilber
- The Politics of Experience – R.D. Laing
- Anatomy of the Spirit – Caroline Myss
THIS IS BY NO MEANS AND EXHAUSTIVE READING LIST
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Hi Gianna,
I have never clicked on this recovery from psychosis tab before. You have gathered some very important resources. I have my work cut out for me reading it all.
Good stuff, thanks.
Yay Ellen!
this is a relatively new page I’ve put together…I’m often bummed at how infrequent all my resources in the tabs are used…I can see how often pages are visited…and while the tabs get looked at often enough the vast amount of info collected on them don’t get looked at often enough…I don’t know how to make them more available…
These tabs are the meat of my blog…the stuff that really counts…and is timeless.
Hi Gianna,
I see that you have Steven Morgan’s story here. We have just hired him to be the director of our peer-run psychiatric survivor group, Another Way, here in Montpelier, VT.
Thanks for gathering all this material and fostering connections that combat our isolation.
Steven Morgan is an awesome guy…he will be wonderful to work with and I think you’re all very lucky to have him!! and I’m sure him, you. Say hello to him…
How do I withdraw from 3mg of risperdal.
Study the About page on this blog and buy some of the recommended books and then see what you think is right for you. Use the info you find there are a springboard to more research so that you can make the right decisions for yourself…
a primer to withdrawal is here.
but I recommend educating yourself much further than that before making a decision.
withdrawing from Risperdal is potentially dangerous if you don’t do it right, so please take your time and see if it’s right for you.