Contextualizing Psychosis: Society, Culture, and Lived Experience- 1:30-2pm Rethinking Psychosis: A Lived Experience Perspective - Kristen Koniuch, BS
- 2-2:30pm The Role of Societal Factors on the Thematic Content of Hallucinations and Delusions - Skye Wood, MA
Rethinking Psychosis: A Lived Experience Perspective - Kristen Koniuch, BS
This presentation explores how cultural, social, and political environments may shape psychosis spectrum and altered state experiences through both an interdisciplinary framework and the lived experience of the speaker. It examines how factors such as safety, stigma, community integration, and meaning-making influence both the interpretation and trajectory of these experiences across cultures, with particular emphasis on the cultural climate of the United States. Attendees will be introduced to alternative frameworks for understanding psychosis, including spiritual emergence, symbolic experience, and trauma-informed perspectives, while also examining the strengths and limitations of dominant biomedical models. Through the speaker’s own psychiatric survival story, participants will gain a deeper understanding of compassionate, dignity-centered approaches to supporting individuals navigating psychosis spectrum experiences.
The Role of Societal Factors on the Thematic Content of Hallucinations and Delusions - Skye Wood, MA
Why do particular themes recur in the hallucinations and delusions of psychotic individuals? While biological vulnerability and personal life experiences are widely recognized as contributing factors in psychosis, the role of the societies in which psychotic individuals reside in shaping the thematic content of symptoms has received comparatively less attention.This presentation proposes that recurring features of a society may help produce recurring thematic patterns in the hallucinations and delusions of people living within that society. Rather than viewing psychotic content as random or solely individual in origin, I will explore the possibility that social environments cultivate and exacerbate dispositions, expectations, fears, aspirations, and interpretive habits that can later become exaggerated or pathologically amplified during psychotic experiences.Drawing on various types of literature and multimedia sources, I will examine major recurring psychotic themes and present hypotheses regarding the societal conditions that may contribute to their prevalence. Examples may include surveillance technologies, achievement-oriented economic systems, dominant religious narratives, social distrust, and other cultural and structural influences.The presentation does not argue that societal factors alone determine psychotic content, nor that all individuals exposed to the same conditions will develop similar experiences. Rather, it proposes that psychotic themes may emerge through interactions between individual vulnerabilities and socially produced dispositions. By examining psychotic content through a social lens, this presentation invites discussion about the relationship between psychosis, culture, and the societies in which people live.
