ISPS-US Research Interest Group

Purpose:
We ISPS-US members are united in the understanding that it is the social conditions of our lives that most profoundly affect people’s ability to live fully and with dignity in the world. As practitioners, people with lived experience of psychosis, family members, advocates, and researchers, we are committed to broadening the understanding of person-centered, psychological and social approaches to psychosis as the primary intervention/form of treatment for psychosis. Sadly, neither key decision-makers/policymakers nor the most powerful practitioners recognize the full value of these humanistic treatments. As activists and changemakers, we seek to establish an indisputable evidence-base for the humanistic approaches and interventions that allow people who experience psychosis to re-find themselves, and reclaim/redefine their lives.

Process:
Participants will share their particular research interests, along with existing or potential future collaborators and partners within universities as well as like-minded organizations and agencies. It is our hope that identifying shared interests, budding research strategies, brainstorming possible (and new) research directions, expanding connections within ISPS-US, as well as in universities and mental health systems throughout the U.S. (and world), with an aim toward identifying viable collaborative research projects will provide such compelling evidence of efficacy and real and substantial change, that key decision-makers will accept their viability and begin to reframe and rewrite treatment protocols and understandings.