Deb BushongFounder, Owner, & Therapist, Conversations Therapy · Clinical Expertise Meets Lived Experience in Psychosis Care

Life with Psychosis

7 Nov 2024 · 3 min

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2:33

In this introductory talk, Deb Bushong‑Song, founder and therapist of Conversations Therapy and Supervision, explains the focus of her practice on individuals in the early stages of psychosis. She notes that most inquiries come from parents who feel lost and often do not know where to turn. Deb describes the therapeutic style she employs, drawing on over 20 years of experience and specialized training, and highlights how her approach differs from typical psychiatric or therapeutic interventions. A central theme is the message of hope: diagnoses such as schizophreniform or schizophrenia are not fatal, and with modern tools, resources, and supportive therapy, individuals can resume education, work, and family life. The talk aims to reassure families, provide guidance on next steps, and emphasize that recovery and a fulfilling life are possible for those experiencing psychosis.

Chapters

My name is Deb Bushong-Song. I am the owner, founder, and therapist of Conversations Therapy and Supervision. We are a therapy practice focused mainly on people who are dealing with developing, early in developing their experience with psychosis. And a lot of times people don't know what that means. So usually it's parents that call me and contact me. It's not even the person experiencing it. And parents are frequently at a loss for words. They don't even know where to turn. And they find me in various places online because I've been working with psychotic disorders for over 20 years. So— They find me, they call me, and they're like, "Help, please tell us what to do. You know, this has happened to my child, this has happened to my young adult, and I don't know where to turn next. I don't know what to do. What do you do that's different?" And so that's when I get to tell them a little bit about the style of therapy that we use, the style of therapy that I use in particular. Some of the specialties that I have been trained in. And also I get to tell them something that they probably don't hear from most psychiatrists, from most other therapists that they might have talked to, that there is hope for their child. That the diagnosis of something like Schizophreniform, schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder of any sort is not a death sentence because that's how it was seen for so many years. But this is something that their child can move on from. There are tools, there are resources, there are things that are available nowadays and different ways of seeing psychosis that allow people to move on in their life and go on with their dreams, go back to school, have a job, have a family.