In what ways, if any, do people diagnosed with 'schizophrenia' perceive their label as having affected their personal therapy?

This paper will address the following question: how do people diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia’ experience the disclosure of that label to their psychotherapist? This will be a presentation of the early findings of my PhD... [ view full abstract ]

This paper will address the following question: how do people diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia’ experience the disclosure of that label to their psychotherapist? This will be a presentation of the early findings of my PhD research which employs narrative analysis and is focused upon the impact of stigma and disclosure upon the therapeutic relationship.  The overall aim of this research is to listen to the largely unheard narratives of people who have been given a diagnosis of ‘schizophrenia’ and in particular to how they perceive their therapeutic relationships to have been affected by the disclosure of this label to their therapist(s).

Psychotherapeutic ways of working with psychosis have been advocated as a way of understanding mental distress in a different way from those ways of working that locate the origins of human distress within a disease-oriented biomedical model; it has been argued that the talking therapies generally see mental distress as located within relational and/or cultural contexts.  However, when the prevailing Western social and cultural paradigm is one in which our dominant understanding of mental distress remains informed by biomedical approaches, what effect may this have both on how therapists understand and respond to severe mental distress?  What narratives might the therapist therefore tell themselves and their clients about ‘schizophrenia’ and how to work with this label?  The narrative they tell can shape the response they have to their client, which may then shape the response of their client to both the therapy and to their label. 

What is considered of importance here is how we can be open to shaping a response to mental distress that is informed by those experiencing it.