Strong relationships are a significant source of support for recovery and are well established as being necessary for physical and emotional well-being. However, relationships can also be a source of distress and confusion,... [ view full abstract ]
Strong relationships are a significant source of support for recovery and are well established as being necessary for physical and emotional well-being. However, relationships can also be a source of distress and confusion, particularly in emerging adulthood, a time of critical psychosocial development and flux. The relational context of mental health remains under-researched in general, and this is particularly true for the experiences of young people under the care of early intervention services.
This paper will report on a recent empirical project about the relational lives of younger adults (18-25 years) under the care of an Early Intervention Service in London, UK. This qualitative project has taken a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach in order to learn more about the ‘experiential texture’ of the key relationships in the young person’s life, including those with family, peers and professionals. Participants were interviewed using an innovative ‘relational mapping’ visual methods approach.
Mostly strikingly, the data indicate how participants struggle to make sense of the paradoxes inherent in their disrupted relational experiences. Thus relational distress forms part of the experience of psychosis per se, and renewed relational connection is – reciprocally – integral to the experience of recovering. Using case examples, we will illustrate participants’ particular efforts in negotiating their relational identities. Respondents worked to balance their own needs for care and support, alongside their need to care about and protect others. This intersection of responsibility, reciprocity and a relationally-oriented ‘protective isolation’ will be explored with specific reference to their disclosures about their distress. We will reflect upon these findings in the context of young people’s life stage, their mental health status, and their use of services. Services may benefit from these insights, both by providing a more relationally-attuned response to psychosis, but also through finding ways to better engage with the young person’s relational network.
Therapeutic relationships , Early intervention , Other family work
