Voices in Psychosis

Angela Woods is Professor of Medical Humanities and acting Director of Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University. She works at the intersections of cultural theory, psychology, philosophy and literary studies, focusing on psychosis, narrative and the dynamics of interdisciplinary collaboration. From 2012-2022 she was Co-Director of Hearing the Voice, a large, interdisciplinary research project funded by the Wellcome Trust.Ben Alderson-Day is a research psychologist specialising in atypical development and mental health. Since completing a PhD on autism and problem-solving (University of Edinburgh, 2012), he has been based at Durham University as part of Hearing the Voice, a 10-year interdisciplinary project on the experience of voice-hearing (or auditory verbal hallucinations). His research combines phenomenological, cognitive, and neuroscientific methods, and has included topics as diverse as psychosis, reading, imagination, spirituality, sleep, and phobia.Charles Fernyhough is a psychologist and writer. The focus of his recent scientific work has been in applying ideas from mainstream developmental psychology to the study of psychosis, particularly the phenomenon of voice-hearing. He is PI and Director of the interdisciplinary Hearing the Voice project, supported by the Wellcome Trust.

Voices in Psychosis deepens and extends the understanding of hearing voices in psychosis in a striking way. For the first time, this collection brings multiple disciplinary, clinical and experiential perspectives to bear on an original and extraordinarily rich body of testimony.

Part One: Orientations