Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift in our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis

As the recovery research continues to accumulate, we find that the mainstream understanding of schizophrenia and psychosis has lost nearly all credibility:

• After over 100 years and billions of dollars spent on research looking for schizophrenia and other related psychotic disorders in the brain, we still have not found any substantial evidence that these disorders are actually caused by a brain disease.

• We have learned that full recovery from schizophrenia and other related psychotic disorders is not only possible but is surprisingly common.

• We’ve discovered that those diagnosed in the United States and other “developed” nations are much less likely to recover than those in the poorest countries of the world; furthermore, those diagnosed with a psychotic disorder in the West today may fare even worse than those so diagnosed over 100 years ago.

• We’ve seen that the long-term use of antipsychotics and the mainstream psychiatric paradigm of care is likely to be causing significantly more harm than benefit, greatly increasing the likelihood that a transient psychotic episode will harden into a chronic psychotic condition.

• And we’ve learned that many people who recover from these psychotic disorders do not merely return to their pre-psychotic condition, but often undergo a profound positive transformation with far more lasting benefits than harms.

In Rethinking Madness, Dr. Paris Williams takes the reader step by step on a highly engaging journey of discovery, exploring how the mainstream understanding of schizophrenia has become so profoundly misguided. He reveals the findings of his own groundbreaking research of people who have fully recovered from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, weaving the stories of these participants into the existing literature and crafting a surprisingly clear and coherent vision of the entire psychotic process, from onset to full recovery.

As this vision unfolds, we discover . . .

. . . ways to support those struggling with psychotic experiences while also coming to appreciate the important ways that these individuals can contribute to society.

. . . a deeper sense of appreciation for the profound wisdom and resilience that lie within all of our beings, even those we may think of as being deeply disturbed.

. . . that by gaining a deeper understanding of madness, we gain a deeper understanding of the core existential dilemmas with which we all must struggle, arriving at the unsettling realization of just how thin the boundary really is between madness and sanity.

Dr. Paris Williams offers the very rare and powerful perspective of someone who has experienced psychosis from both sides--as a practicing psychologist and researcher, and as someone who has himself struggled with psychotic experiences. In his late 20's, while in the midst of a very successful career as a hang gliding instructor and competition pilot (winning a World Champion title and multiple National Champion titles), Paris Williams suddenly found himself plunged into a profound struggle with experiences that would have likely resulted in the diagnosis of a psychotic disorder. Fortunately, he managed to avoid becoming entangled within the psychiatric system, and he instead embarked upon a journey of healing and self discovery, working to resolve his own personal crisis while aspiring to support others going through similar crises. He has since spent over a decade deeply exploring both Eastern and Western understandings of mind and consciousness, studying intensive meditation from a number of different masters around the world, earning a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, working in numerous settings supporting people struggling with psychosis and other challenging and extreme experiences, and conducting a series of pioneering research studies at Saybrook University on recovery from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. He continues to work as a psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area.