Tuesday 5th April saw the launch of the experiences of psychosis project at the Royal Society in London. This was the culmination of a year-long project in which 31 people were interviewed about their personal experiences of hearing voices, visual hallucinations and/or having unusual beliefs that are often not shared by others. A further 3 people were interviewed about caring for a relative who experienced psychosis.

Speakers at the launch included Claudia Hammond, presenter of ‘All in the Mind’ on BBC Radio 4; Tom Craig, professor of social psychiatry; Dr Laura Griffith, senior qualitative researcher with the HERG; and Peter Bullimore, chair of Sheffield’s Hearing Voices Network. Peter, who was also a participant in the research, said the website will ‘help break down the stigma of having psychotic experiences’. Laura Griffith, who conducted the research, hopes the stories of the people she interviewed will ‘humanise’ their experiences and create a better understanding of psychosis.

The experiences of psychosis module, like all the HERG’s projects, is available online and can be freely used by patients, their families and health professionals. The section features an introduction by comedian, Jo Brand, who is a former psychiatric nurse.