Flavie Waters

Massoud Stephane

This book reviews the descriptive features of psychotic symptoms in various medical conditions (psychiatric, early psychosis, general medical, neurological and dementia), non-medical settings (individuals without the need for care or at high risk for psychosis) and age groups (children and adolescents, adults, older adults). Similarly, the perspectives of many disciplines are provided (history, psychiatry, psychology, psychopathology, neurology, phenomenological philosophy) so that readers may become familiar with different approaches that are used to define, evaluate and categorize psychosis, at times independently of clinical diagnosis. This book is a resource book for those requiring an understanding of clinical and conceptual issues associated with psychosis, with chapters written by academics and clinicians who are leaders in their respective fields. The book also provides a guide regarding the methods of assessment for psychosis and its symptoms, with 120 rating scales, which are described and evaluated. The Assessment of Psychosis will be particularly useful to the clinical and research community, but also to readers interested in individual differences and human psychopathology.

A Reference Book and Rating Scales for Research and Practice

The Assessment of Psychosis

Simon McCarthy-Jones,

Mark Hayward

Iris E. Sommer

Hallucinations can occur across the five sensory modalities (auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, and gustatory). Whilst they have the potential to be benign or even highly valued, they can often be devastating experiences associated with distress, impaired social and occupational functioning, self-harm and suicide. Those who experience hallucinations in this latter manner may do so within the context of a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The only routinely available interventions for people distressed by hallucinations are antipsychotic drugs, which date from the introduction of chlorpromazine in the 1950s, and manualized cognitive behavioral therapy, which originated in the 1990s. These interventions do not help all people distressed by hallucinations, and in the case of antipsychotic medication, come with notable side-effects. There has hence been great interest in new interventions to support people distressed by hallucinations. The goal of this Frontiers Research Topic is to present a collection of papers on new developments in clinical interventions for those distressed by hallucinations. In the psychiatric condition that remains most strongly associated with hallucinations, schizophrenia, the majority (~70%) of people will have experienced hallucinations in the auditory modality, approximately a third will have experienced visual hallucinations, and a smaller minority will have experienced hallucinations in other modalities. Consistent with this prevalence, this collection focusses on auditory and visual hallucinations. This is not to minimise the potential distress that can occur from hallucinations in other modalities. For example, tactile hallucinations, particularly when stemming from earlier experiences of sexual abuse, can be highly distressing, and improved ways to help sufferers of such experiences are also needed. In summary, this collection aims to result in an interdisciplinary collection of papers which will appeal to a wide readership, spanning all with an interest in this area.

Flavie Waters

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