Recovery from first-episode psychosis: a dialogical perspective

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Phenomenology

Background:

• First-episode psychosis (FEP) significantly impacts an individual's sense of self.
• Understanding the self's transformation is key to facilitating recovery in early psychosis.
• Existing theories of self are essential for examining how self-perception is altered and rebuilt.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the process of change in self during the initial 3 months following FEP.
• To explore the relationship between the evolving sense of self and recovery in young adults with FEP.
• To apply dialogical self theory to interpret the experiences of self-change in early psychosis.

Main Methods:

• Conducted semistructured interviews with 12 young people diagnosed with FEP.
• Collected data at two time points: within the first month and 3 months after psychosis onset.
• Utilized Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyze interview data.

Main Results:

• Identified two primary themes of self-experience: 'loss of self' and 'strengthening of self'.
• Found that the sense of self undergoes significant changes during the early recovery phase.
• Highlighted the dynamic interplay between self-perception and the recovery trajectory.

Conclusions:

• The experience of self in FEP is characterized by both profound loss and subsequent strengthening.
• Dialogical self theory provides a valuable framework for understanding self-recovery in FEP.
• Early intervention focusing on the sense of self may be critical for promoting recovery in psychosis.