Personal experience: Hopes and fears - the road to recovery after psychotic illness.

Abstract

In a previous article, I wrote a personal account of the stigmatising impact of an acute stress-induced psychotic episode in the context of being suspended from work following a false allegation. Here, I attempt to describe the psychological hurdles I’ve had to face in my recovery back to ‘full functioning’. The psychotic episode took its toll on me. After the acute phase, I was constantly encouraged by both my treating psychiatrist and my care coordinator to take as much time as I could resting and recuperating. This made complete sense at face value: after all, the last thing any of us wanted was for me to feel unduly stressed and to experience a relapse. Despite this, my natural urge was to get back to work post haste. This is a strange trait that most of my medical colleagues will be able to relate to - for some reason we have an inherent sense of duty to our vocation, even if it is at the expense of our own health. .... Language: en