Psychosis Risk and Experience of the Self

Paul Møller, DrMedSci, is a consultant psychiatrist, senior researcher, and former Research Director and Head of Department of Mental Health Research and Development for the Division of Mental Health and Addiction at Vestre Viken Hospital Trust, Norway.His early publications contributed to triggering the re-discovery of the concept basic self-disturbance, and Møller is one of the main authors of the EASE Manual (Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience).

"This marvellous book shows us that going 'back to basics' (the central role in psychiatry of conversation and close listening) can point the way forward for developing a more satisfactory understanding of psychosis and what to address in treatment. The content and writing style will appeal to a broad audience- clinicians, researchers and interested general readers alike. This book is highly recommended"Professor Barnaby Nelson, Head Ultra High Risk for Psychosis Program, Orygen, The University of Melbourne, Australia."This is an amazing cartography of the multiple shades and experiential layers that lie at the core of emerging psychosis, as well as an inspiring map for all those genuinely interested in the psychotherapy of schizophrenia. Over and above the in-depth clinical insights, Paul Møller offers something even more unique and rare in the contemporary literature landscape: a meditated distillate of clinical experience, inter-human curiosity and therapeutic touch"Professor Andrea Raballo, MD, PHD Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Department of Biomedicine, University of Italian Switzerland. Lugano, Italy.Paul Møller's Psychosis Risk and Experience of the Self: Understanding the Individual Development of Psychosis as a Basic Self-disturbance is the first comprehensive yet humble and sensitive-to-nuances guide to the fascinating clinical and research landscape of the so-called 'subjectivity (and inter-subjectivity) model' of emerging psychosis. Because of its unique blend of scientific rigor together with rich and compassionate clinical insights, it will appeal to a broad audience of clinicians, researchers, and interested laypeople. I certainly plan to recommend it as a must-read to students, colleagues, and loving family members and friends of worry-provoking youth"Professor Danny Koren, Clinical-Science Program, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, and ZOHAR Clinic, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa Israel."Paul Møller offers here a superb synthesis of clinical acumen with theoretical precision. He lights a path for those seeking both to treat and to understand schizophrenia and related conditions—especially for those who recognize that treatment necessarily relies on understanding. This fine book also serves as a clear and exciting introduction to the phenomenological approach to grasping the lived-world of mental disorders". Louis Sass, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, State University of New Jersey, USA.Author of Madness and Modernism and The Paradoxes of Delusion.‘Professor Møller has made profound contributions to the theory and practice of managing clinically significant self-disturbances, with lasting impact for the growth of the wider field. Most importantly, he has managed to offer an evenly balanced view and added much needed nuance in the debates about schizophrenia as a syndrome, an illness, and a human condition.’Assistant Professor Clara Humpston, Department of Psychology, University of York, United Kingdom

• A Central Conversation  Use of the term schizophrenia  1. An initial aerial view of the field, then heading for the inside  2. To understand is a universal human need  3. The prodromal phenomena illuminate the core of existence- aiding the understanding of psychosis  4. The problem of defining the prodromal phase  5. The view of science determines the view of psychosis  6. Subjectivity  7. The self and basic self-disturbance  8. Diagnostics, phenomenology and the EASE manual in the field of psychosis risk  9. The five domains of the EASE manual  10. The view of psychosis treatment among professionals and health authorities is changing  11. What about other models of understanding and theraputic approaches to psychosis? Do they use subjectivity, self-experience or self-understanding as explicit concepts?  12. Self-disturbance as part of a wider treatment context  13. Conversation and phenomenology  14. Theraputic effects and obstacles  15. Approaches and settings in treatment directed as basic self-disturbances  16. Outline of a pragmatic seven-step treatment module  17. Implementing the subjectivity model