What do Psychotic Experiences Mean for Young Men? A Qualitative Investigation

This study is of a grounded theory analysis of the transcripts of young men talking about their experience of psychosis. Six young men were interviewed twice during the critical period of 3–5 years following their first psychotic episode. The young men were asked to reflect on themselves and their lives before, during, and after having psychotic experiences. The transcripts were considered to have a phenomenological status, in that they represented the participants' perspectives on their experiences. Four themes emerged that were common to all the accounts: experience of psychosis, immediate expression of psychotic experiences, personal and interpersonal changes, and personal explanations. These themes are explored in detail, and their links with existing research and clinical implications are considered.