personal journey
of community wisdom
psychotherapy needs
Training, Writing, Psychotherapy . . .
inspired by lived experience
If you are looking to better understand what the word “psychosis” means, you have landed in the right place. The way this word is understood in the modern world clouds the judgement of the average treatment provider, family member, and sufferer. Mainstream judgements and cultural delusions around the medicalized concept of the label schizophrenia can lead to challenging interpersonal relationships and pain and suffering.
People who want to help do not want to be seen as evil oppressors endlessly punishing the sufferer until they start to comply with warehousing, poverty and meaningless lives. They have to work with money making institutions that are there to sustain themselves. Such institutions are often full of stigma and people who have read misinformation in textbooks and don’t know how to form dignified and respectful relationships with people who are experiencing a “break” from reality.
This site is dedicated to advancing training, writing, and thought that challenge mainstream views of psychosis and advance a more normalize, mutual, and realistic understanding of what is happening in “psychosis” or a “break” from reality. We are setting up trainings that can help you understand what is happening during psychosis both within the sufferer and within the society. These things clearly need to be worked out.
There is a lot to read and understand on this site in the pages and blog. You may prefer to sign my email list and keep abreast of opportunities to contribute and learn to have optimal relationships that can help improve society rather than relationships that involve pain, suffering, and oppression.
You are not nearly as alone as you may think. Simple acceptance is often the first step towards transforming your life.
Across Diagnostic Categories!
Whether you are a sufferer, survivor, provider or loved one, I am almost certain that when we look across diagnostic categories that more people relate to these experiences than you think!
What Will People Think?
When a person first experiences a psychosis or special message emergency, many think a threshold has been crossed from which there is no going back. Often, associates presume the worst possible outcome and go on with their lives as if the sufferer no longer exists.
Treatment?
Often, the focus of treatment is overly protective reality checks and behavioral control. Many experts do not know what to do and utilize an institutional system that does not work and can make things worse. They may vastly underestimate what the sufferer can learn and accomplish.
Linda Jacobs on The Journey Through Psychosis Workshop
I have worked in the mental health system for many years and this workshop was like a breath of fresh air. Tim has opened my eyes to a whole different way of understanding “psychosis” and provided techniques that feel like a much better way of interacting with someone who is suffering. It should be mandatory training for all staff of hospitals and mental heath institutions. As a family member of someone who “hears voices,” this workshop has given me the chance to connect to my loved one with confidence and grace.
Ammi Rostin on The Journey Through Madness Workshop
Journey Through Madness is a unique training taught by Tim Dreby. Tim is very engaging and his teaching includes information, conversations and videos. The classes are well planned. Tim is generously sharing his own experiences which made participants feel safe and comfortable to open up. The classes are full of helpful material which I can go back to and study closer. I am grateful for the opportunity to join the workshop, and I recommend it to anyone looking for better understanding of psychosis.
Midwest Book Review, five stars
“An intensely personal and impressively well written memoir, “Fighting for Freedom in America: Memoir of a ‘Schizophrenia’ and Mainstream Cultural Delusions” is a compelling read from beginning to end.”
Niki’s book review
“What a great read! As a person with mental health issues myself, I could relate to most of the memoir. Go ahead and read this book. I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down. Read cover to cover fast!”
Tony Parsons
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A fairly well written mental illness memoir book. . . . There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great biographical movie, a college PP presentation, or better yet a mini TV series or even a documentary (A & E, History channel).
Rabia Tanveer, Readers Favorite, five stars
“I finally understand what a person with a mental illness feels like,lives like, and how he fights for his sanity and his life every single day . . .This book has compassion, passion, understanding, and a force of will that will allow any person to become better and make peace with themselves. Great job.”
Karen Mabry on The Journey Through Psychosis Workshop
This workshop provided me with new skills for my work as a peer. I believe the roadmap offers the best way to connect with peers struggling with psychosis.
Book Viral Spotlight
“Much has been written on the subject of schizophrenia with as many paths to recovery as there are individuals affected by it, but Dee’s work is most notable for his candid reflections on cultural delusions. Clearly articulating the loss of faculties that make us what we are, they prove intrinsic to the telling of his story. More importantly they provide an often harrowing perspective on the anguish of mental illness from the inside and in doing so allow Dee to address commonly held beliefs and prejudices.”
M. on THe Journey Through Madness Workshop
As someone with a loved one who has lived with and survived these sorts of experiences, I deeply appreciated Tim Dreby’s unique, non-medicalized approach to support. From my own experience, many of Tim’s recommendations and suggestions — likely considered “radical” to mainstream psychiatry — are exactly what people going through these crises are desperately needing: to be listened to, to not be ridiculed or stigmatized, to be treated as though what is happening to them has meaning, & to be treated as fully human with something to share for the rest of us.
M.I. on THe Journey Through Madness Workshop
What made the greatest impression on me from Tim’s class was learning that there are many angles from which to support a person who is experiencing psychosis and that this kind of support can lead to recovery! It was valuable to know I was learning this from someone who really knows and has had first had personal experience
Paige Lovitt, Readers Views, five stars
“[Clyde’s] story is fascinating because he is able to intellectualize what he was thinking and feeling at the time, even if he is discussing his paranoid delusional thoughts . . . As someone with a Master’s of Science degree in a counseling field, I have found my greatest lessons have been from real people and not material in textbooks. As I read Clyde’s story, I felt like I learned many lessons through what he has to share. My work will definitely be more beneficial by what I learned from him.”
Peg Morrison
If you ever wondered what happened to Holden Caulfield, read this book.
It’s compelling, insightful, and artfully told. At times gritty and at times gracious, it is written from the heart. I literally laughed and cried.
I understand the critiques written by others. There is some redundancy, and some passages are hard to follow. To me this mirrors recovery perfectly. There are days that last a lifetime. There are questions that are never answered. For me that’s part of the beauty of this book.
My hats off to the author.
Anonymous on The Journey Through Madness Workshop
This course transformed my understand of and approach to working with folks experiencing psychosis. By breaking away from the medical model, Tim’s anti-oppressive and mad pride-oriented approach helped me build trust while working with message receivers and support them on their recovery journey. The community approach to this course creates a safe space for exploration and interpersonal learning from many different perspectives, including message receivers, providers, and support persons. Whatever your connection to psychosis is, I cannot recommend this course enough as an experience that will change your perspective of madness and provide a myriad of tools to promote recovery and healing.
A Vacation Day for a Schizophrenic:
Fifteen years ago, I remember hearing a psychiatrist who had just been away for two weeks say, “There is no such thing as a vacation when you are schizophrenic!” As an unlicensed professional vying to get a staff position on the unit, I had carefully avoided rolling my eyes. I had politely nodded my head […]
It’s Never Too Late to Assert Yourself
In a personal story I am currently working on for publication in Mad in America, I am starting to realize the impact of the 2015 release of my award-winning memoir: Fighting for Freedom in America: Memoir of a “Schizophrenia” and Mainstream Cultural Delusions. Six year later I am still dealing with a sense of alienation that preoccupies me. I […]
My Training in the Month of November
Over the last fifteen years, I have dedicated significant chunks of my weekend towards writing. I wrote a memoir, I developed draft after draft of my special message material, I built a website, and I grew my writing platform. It used to feel comfortable, like all this work was a natural part of my healing […]
Workshops with a Sense of Spontaneity:
I learned a lesson in spontaneity some twenty years ago that I try to bring with me to each workshop I do. At the time, I was heavily engaged in writing poetry. I explored socializing at poetry readings to meet other people who liked to write. In my notebooks and on the word processer I […]