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Telling stories and hearing voices: narrative work with voice hearers in acute care
Author(s) -
PLACE C.,
FOXCROFT R.,
SHAW J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01787.x
Subject(s) - narrative , mental health , psychology , meaning (existential) , psychological intervention , nursing , medicine , psychotherapist , linguistics , psychiatry , philosophy
Accessible summary• Nurses do not always talk to voice hearers in detail about their experiences. • Telling the story of an individual's voices through developing a narrative is a valid therapeutic process that mental health nurses can help with. • The approach of Romme and Escher provides a service user‐based understanding of voices and recovery that mental health nurses can use in their practise. • A project was developed on an acute inpatient ward where nurses helped voice hearers develop a narrative account of their voices.Abstract Mental health nurses do not always feel at ease talking in detail with voice hearers about their experiences. Using the approach of Romme and Escher, a project was developed to support staff on an acute inpatient ward to explore voice hearing with patients. Romme and Escher suggest that a person's own understanding of their voices and their meaning is the key to recovery. Working together, the nurse helps voice hearers construct a narrative that tells the story of their voices. Examples from the narratives show how they can help increase understanding of a person's voices, and how the mental health nurse in acute care can realistically offer therapeutic interventions that may help a person towards recovery.