Reconstructing Wonderland in Oakland CaliforniaUsing professional support groups to help redefine the experiences formerly known as “Psychosis”

Solutions!!!

The group extensively reviews eight skills that that if practiced can allow us to continue to have

these experiences in smaller doses, that helps give us balance that can enable us to accomplish

the things we need to do to survive in the Modern World. (see packets of information for

more details

Techniques!!!Special techniques to work with people in

“psychosis” that are based on this reconstructed road-map, are collected in a

book that is currently being edited for publication. What is believed is that once a person has a clear view of what is going on

and helps a message receiver see accept and articulate it, that a wealth of strategies come up. The book makes an effort to document

just some of them.

The Results are as follows:1. Special Messages: These are experiences that trigger the universal process. The group has established a rough description of 26

types of experiences: from hearing voices, seeing and tasting things; to observing coded information from words via loosely associated linguistic coincidence; to associating special meaning to numbers and symbolic objects found on the street, in various forms of media (like movies, reading, music, or news broadcasts) in observing nature and human interaction. Special Messages also involve other experiences such as seeing body language that gives one uncanny intuition; dreaming that reveal premonitions or covert information, magical ability to sense reality, mind reading abilities (your own or others,) amplified perception of serendipitous natural experiences, hyper-sensitive interpersonal observation (sense that people are hinting at things or beating around the bush.) If one considers each special message to be like a letter in the alphabet, the potential for alternative experience is infinite.

2. Divergent Views: These are beliefs that arise from special messages that have a conspiracy flavor that give us unusual ideas about what is really going on. Can be accurate much of the time in some ways that keep us on the lookout for more messages. Our consciousness of them varies: aspects of them are highly conscious (particularly those we react to with intense emotion) while some issues of how the conspiracies are physically possible tend to be less conscious.

3. Exploring the world for evidence: This phenomenon involves rationally trying to search for answers that confirm ones divergent views in ways that give one more special messages. Indeed, being hyper-alert for clues often causes one to create more. Hence phenomena is explored more and more. Special Messages become skills that strengthen with practice.

4. Retaliation Reaction: This involves becoming alarmed with what is going on so that one is compelled to take action, be it big or be it small, (voluntary or involuntary) that stands out or that potentially gets one in trouble

5. Social Sanction: These involve socially prescribed punishments for ones reactions that result in devastating loss or social decline.6. Stigma: The public’s tendency to irrationally disregard the message experience in a way that is reinforced by institutions. Stigma

naturally results in the message receiver developing irrational thoughts about themselves that make them lose their identity and that reinforces social decline.

7. Tricksters: The odd reality that many special message experiences cause us to have divergent view that may be wrong, but if they are believed strongly enough, will in fact com true (at least in a sense.) When tricksters come true it reinforces the message receivers beliefs in the experiences and direct us to focus harder on our special messages.

8. Theories: Strong focuses on what are the cause of the messages accompanied by the tendency to believe that they are unilaterally caused by the same one or two or three forces. Theories are a less conscious aspect of divergent views and are explored later because they involve opportunity for advanced coping skills.

• Standard facilitation skills kept the group safe in spite of the fact that in hosted up to fifteen members. Constant feedback sharpened the picture of what “psychosis” really is.

• The group focused on developing specific coping strategies that if used could help lead participants to recovery tasks and social rehabilitation.

• Continually restructured, the focus was not on research but rather on qualitative exploration that amplified acceptance and external functioning to decrease distress/conflict with society

What’s Next:The current plan is to train peer counselors in the techniques that have bee created from this approach to help outreach institutionalized and isolated individuals in “psychosis,” who aren’t engaging in recovery services. Then, outreach efforts will be made to start similar support groups with mixes of isolated individual and peer counselors. If this strategy works the hope is to form a local local chapter of the Hearing Voices Network in a way that can optimizes such support groups in ways that doesn’t leave any Message Receivers behind.

From feeling like a puppet on a string

The message process is like: a rope,

a pony tail, or a lanyard.

It may make you feel controlled like a

puppet.

Divergent View Special Message

Fear, Fascination or Anger

Special Message

Divergent View

Divergent View

Special Message Exploring the World for evidence

Special Message

Tricksters

Retaliation reactions

Divergent View Special Message

Special Message

Divergent View Special Message

Exploring the World for evidence

Special Message Retaliation Reaction

Social Sanction

Social Sanction

Divergent View Special Message

Exploring the World for evidence

Special Message Retaliation Reaction

Stigma

Social Sanction

Social Sanction

Divergent View

Special Message

Stigma

Special Message

Theory

Trickster Theory

Theory

Theory

Divergent View

Special Message

Stigma

Special Message

Tricksters Lead to More Messages

Trickster

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Special Message

Divergent View

Anti Stigma Cognition

Trickster

Resiliency Psychology

Self-fulfilling Prophecy - +

- +

Special Messages

Anti Stigma Cognitions Social

Rehabilitation

Stigma

The Message Receiver starts to be more mindful of Special Messages

Slowing Down, the process, more processes appear

Factor out external processes like Stigma and Social Sanctions

Conceptualize how all gets tied together

And Solutions that have always been present Become amplified

Special Messages. Illustration. 7

I

Divergent View

Stigma

Special Message

Theory dissolved d

Trickster

Going Towards “psychosis” to Loosen

the Ties that Bind• Groups were held that viewed the experiences

of psychosis as belonging to a legitimate subculture that needed to be explored.

• The facilitator deconstructed his own experiences with ”psychosis” by coining the term Special Messages. This initiated the process of reconstructing a roadmap of what “psychosis” really is.

• Participants explored universal aspects of their experience and decreased internal stigma by bravely and humorously exposing experiences of “psychosis” to their peers.

Story of the Special Messages Group

Spiritual “Weller than Well”

Social Relationships

Self-Exploration through Message Causation

Anti-Stigma Social Rehab

Message Divergent Views

R + R Tasks

Resilient Functional Flexible Theories Positive Self-fulfilling Prophesy

Meaning Message

Mindfulness

Clash Clash

Psychosis Reconstructed

Into Special Message Paradigm

Special Messages

Divergent Views

Social Sanctions

Stigma (Social, Institutional & Self)

Tricksters T h e o r i e s

Normal Society

Searching the World for Evidence

Retaliation Reactions