AN INTRODUCTION - LABYRINTH PSYCHOTICA

THE ANOIKSIS EXPERIMENT

 Manifesto - Theory - Map - Experience

BECAUSE OUR EXPERIENCES MATTER...

What if one word could help make life better? One word?

IMAGINE

Imagine a life in which experiences of mental distress and the accompanying psychiatric labels are easier to understand, recognize and even become preventable... That sounds like utopia...

WE ARE NOT ALONE IN OUR EXPERIENCES..

in 2 people will deal with a mental health crisis in their lives. 
in 13 people will have a psychotic experience before the age of 75
in 14 people will self-harm
in 5 people will have suicidal thoughts
in 15 people attempt suicide
in 5 people will be suffering right now but are afraid to talk about it...
These numbers are scary...

DREAM

What if powerful change could be achieved by adding a 'simple' word to our vocabulary so that we may better understand what we are feeling, thinking, saying and doing? Actively supporting early recognition, descalation and prevention of suffering.I'd think you're crazy...

WHO?

The Anoiksis Experiment is for anyone who loves conceptual art and who is actively interested in changing how we hold space for experiences of distress that we find difficult to understand.I'm listening...

WHY?

The stories we tell determine how we think, act, feel, connect.Hmm...tell me more?

INTRODUCING ANOIKSIS

JOIN THE EXPERIMENT

 
Changing how we hold space for our subjective experiences

EXPERIMENT

The Anoiksis Experiment is an artistic installation of the word Anoiksis into society - one mind at a time...will you join the experiment?How would I do that?

 3 SIMPLE STEPS

Step 1 Add the word Anoiksis to your vocabulary. Hmm... Step 2 Study what it means.Right... Step 3 Practice using it. I have Anoiksis??? 
Yes, if you know noticable shifts in your experiences, you know Anoiksis. We see Anoiksis as our creative survival strategy that helps us shift our realities. Okay, you got my attention... How does that work?  
My Anoiksis is speaking...We enter Anoiksis when our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and imaginational systems are in transformation to help us deal with our realities. We enter Anoiksis when:we fear speaking in public
we grieve
we have an infection
we are in love
So it's like, related to our survival mechanisms of Fight, Flight, Freeze? Yes, in this, we use Anoiksis to describe how our experiences shift in these states and how we can get lost in them.Okay? Can you tell me more?In this we may see Anoiksis as a spectrum state: Anoiksis vs. Deep Anoiksis. We are in Deep Anoiksis when we enter into:delirium
dementia
depression
psychosis
Okay...where is the connection?The connection is on the spectrum of our subjective experience. I don't get it...Can you give an example?One example can be how we all have a subjective experience of meaningfulness. In Anoiksis we may begin to see more meaning or less meaning. In Deep Anoiksis our experience of meaning may become hyper or hypo. We may experience the world as overwhelmingly pregnant with meaning, or experience no meaning at all..This is beginning to make sense...

WHY, HOW, WHAT?

Dr. Gabor Maté describes how trauma is not what happens to us, but what moves within us after what happens. Trauma influences our education, our work, our society. Trauma is a word for our mental, physical, emotional and or spiritual wounds. As Dr. Gabor Maté emphasizes: we need to become a trauma informed society. We need tools to help us hold space for trauma. We designed a method to help hold space for our experiences with wonder, curiosity and empathy by adding a single word to our vocabulary: 'Anoiksis'. Will you join the experiment?  I'm getting excited, where can I learn more?Scroll down below or visit our manifesto!

THE ANOIKSIS MANIFESTO

GET TO KNOW YOUR OWN INNER ANOIKSIS

TAKE ME TO THE MANIFESTO

A SUMMARY OF THE ANOIKSIS THEORY/MAP

AND HOW TO USE IT
 
THE ANOIKSIS THEORY states that there are five crucial elements that influence our subjective experiences. There is no set process or a specific order in which to explore these themes. Depending on the situation, it may be more relevant to first look at: ‘what is needed’ or ‘what has happened?’

WHAT SENSE-PERCEPTIONS?

The key: Identify how senses and perceptions are altered in an experience of Anoiksis.

In (Deep) Anoiksis our sense-perceptions alter more extremely - they can become hypersensitive or hypo sensitive.
 
EXAMPLE: Early recognition may be in experiences of colors changing. They may become more vivid or they may seem dull and off. Background noises may come to the foreground. We may experience time running faster or slower. We may become thin-skinned. Emotions or words may hit us very hard.

TIP: Think of it as suddenly being sensitive to sunlight. The light of the sun has not changed, the sensitivity to the light has changed.

WHAT STORIES?

The key: Discover the link between sensory experience and the story created and distinguish metaphorical significance from literal sense-making. 

We rely so heavily on our senses that it does not occur to us to question them. Instead, we create stories, even if that story seems unusual because it supports our experience. In this stage, we can learn to distinguish metaphorical significance from what may feel like a literal truth.
 
EXAMPLE: Prevention can be found in understanding the play between the senses and the metaphorical and literal (underlying) meaning that is created. See a literal thought that “someone is poisoning me” as potentially born from a heightened sense of taste. Investigate personal significance: feeling unsafe? Alone or abandoned? Recognize the underlying need and act on it

TIP: Think of it as ‘WAKING DREAMING’ in which all associations can be experienced as literal or metaphorical realities. 

WHAT HAPPENED?

The key: identify high impact life events and discover links between these events, sensory experiences, and meaning created.

In a model of Anoiksis, we enter the altered sense state of waking-dreaming in reaction to a disruption in our spiritual/mental/physical/emotional experiences. A series of high-impact life events may instigate such a disruption.
 
EXAMPLE: Being in love. Deep loneliness. Significant loss or death. Not fitting in. A broken heart, love-sickness, a messy divorce. Moving away from loved ones, forced migration, moving to a strange city, or a trip abroad.

TIP: Positive high-impact life events can be just as impactful.

WHAT BIO-FACTORS?

The key: identify how certain internal and external bio-psycho-social triggers influence altered sense-perception and meaning-making. Discover links between triggers and high-impact events.

In an Anoiksis Model, there are several major risk factors that (speculatively) influence the evolution of high-impact life events.
 
EXAMPLE: Sleep disruption, chronic stress, hormonal disruptions (puberty, menopause, pregnancy) nutritional disruption (vitamin deficiency), intergenerational trauma, fetus development, medicine, recreational drugs, poor nutrition, vitamin deficiency.

TIP: Think of Anoiksis as a system, imagine a knot of string. Pull-on one loop and all the others may follow…they are interconnected and often feedback on each other. Focus on the system, on the phenomena, and how they relate. Don't focus solely on symptoms.

WHAT NEEDS?

The Key: Identify the deeper, core needs by piecing together information from all five themes. Create ways to practically serve those needs.

Deeply ingrained in the stories of our minds, bodies, and spirits lay our cultural metaphorical and literal influences in relation to our needs. The clues we have gathered from the previous themes - how our senses change, the stories we create, what disruption events happened, and our triggers - can help us discover what we need.
 
EXAMPLE: Needs can be basic such as financial security, healthy nutrition, safe shelter, or loving connections. When we are followed by the FBI, we may hold a need to feel safe. How to help a person feel safe? Needs are diverse. Some need to suppress experiences. Some need to make art. It is the job of ourselves, and our carers to listen to those needs and act.
 
TIP: Engage in authentic Deep Listening. Under a symbolic need is a need, is a need. Ask the same question 5 x and you will get a different answer. 

THE ANOIKSIS MAP

GET TO KNOW YOUR OWN INNER ANOIKSIS

TAKE ME TO THE MAP

WHY THE ANOIKSIS MAP?

BREAKING OUTDATED MYTHS ABOUT PSYCHOSIS

 
When we can’t understand it's harder to connect. When we don’t connect, we’re left to our own assumptions, fears, and outdated myths. Like these:
 
FROM MYTH: Psychosis as only a destructive phenomenon, one that should be avoided at all costs, as deteriorating the brain each time someone enters into this state. 
TO: Psychosis is not to be feared, it is the coolest thing our brain does to protect us. Our brain is not our enemy, it is our biggest ally, but if we don't learn listen and recognize it, we may suffer.
 
FROM MYTH: Psychosis as a disorder of symptoms, with no meaning or value - a misfiring of neurons, a chemical imbalance. Any thought, idea, sense, experience in this state is seen as nonsense and ignored. 
TO: Psychosis is a collection of phenomena, full of meaning and valuable information about our needs, and how to address those needs. Needs can be physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.
 
FROM MYTH: Psychosis as a binary state - there is no spectrum with which it exists, making it incredibly hard to identify early sensory experiences.
TO: Psychosis as a spectrum state - recognizing a descent into psychosis is not only possible, it can be a choice. 
 
FROM MYTH: Psychosis as a biomedical disorder - treatment primarily consists of medicine and research/treatment methods are narrowly focused on this area.
TO: Psychosis as a transformative system collapse - Support is system focussed, Deep Listening to underlying needs, and addressing multiple areas at the same time. Sleep patterns, nutrition, thought patterns, inflammation, etc. 
 
FROM MYTH: Psychosis as solely a problem of the client - discounts the value of context (life experience, relationships) on the experience. 
TO: Psychosis as a social systems problem - taking into account the value of context to an individual, as well as a social system
 
The lack of understanding results in a lack of action with missed windows for prevention and early detection, unnecessary emotional suffering, physical and emotional escalation. 

THE ANOIKSIS MAP VALUE

 
A comprehensive framework to navigate the complexity of psychosis for empathy early recognition and prevention. THE ANOIKSIS MAP helps with the following:
 
• Brings clarity - The Anoiksis Map appreciates the diversity of subjective experience but identifies patterns and structures that bring an overall framework to a variety of subjective stories. The map holds space for a range of subjective experiences, both glorious and terrifying, both exaggerated and subdued.
 
• Helps with early recognition & prevention - This map helps us to recognize early signs ahead of time and process these experiences before they escalate. When psychosis is recognized on time it can be dimmed, subdued, or even prevented (if desired). But also better navigated and channeled.
 
• Improves care & understanding - This map provides a frame to understand the subjective experiences of psychosis. This map helps us distinguish subjective reality from literal truth - when we can look at someone’s subjective experiences from a distance, we have the potential to learn more. 
 
• Builds empathy skills - This map puts psychosis on a spectrum of experience and creates bridges between psychosis and other human experiences. 
 
• Improves treatment strategies - We can help discover the significant metaphorical meaning coming through the experience - if the experience is arising for a reason, we may even benefit from why it arises in the first place. We can connect subjective sensory experiences to wisdom about oneself, his/her relationships, and the broader world. 
 
THE ANOIKSIS MAP shows the experience as a reaction to a wide range of mental, physical, and or spiritual high-impact life events. By taking a holistic frame to this experience, we can begin to take a collective and systemic approach to recovery.

Are you ready to deep dive into understanding psychosis?

"This is really good [...] So clear and so important. I don't think I remember reading something so comprehensive about the experience of psychosis. I felt it was really connected to my own experiences, and also deeply resonates with the theories I found myself more connected to. I really hope you get this published. [...] I think there are very few clinicians that understand the experience of psychosis... [...] your work is priceless." - Renana

DEEP DIVE HERE

THE ANOIKSIS MAP VALUE

 
A comprehensive framework to navigate the complexity of psychosis for empathy early recognition and prevention. THE ANOIKSIS MAP helps with the following:
 
• Brings clarity - The Anoiksis Map appreciates the diversity of subjective experience but identifies patterns and structures that bring an overall framework to a variety of subjective stories. The map holds space for a range of subjective experiences, both glorious and terrifying, both exaggerated and subdued.
 
• Helps with early recognition & prevention - This map helps us to recognize early signs ahead of time and process these experiences before they escalate. When Deep Anoiksis is recognized on time it can be dimmed, subdued, or even prevented (if desired). But also better navigated and channeled.
 
• Improves care & understanding - This map provides a frame to understand the subjective experiences of (Deep) Anoiksis. This map helps us distinguish subjective reality from literal truth - when we can look at subjective experiences from a distance, we have the potential to learn more. 
 
• Builds empathy skills - This map puts Anoiksis and Deep Anoiksis on a spectrum of experience and creates bridges between psychosis and other human experiences such as depression, OCD, and body-dysmorphia.
 
• Improves support strategies - If the experience is arising for a reason, we may benefit from why it arises in the first place. We can connect subjective sensory experiences to wisdom about oneself, our relationships, and the broader world. 
 
THE ANOIKSIS MAP shows our experiences as a reaction to a wide range of mental, physical, and or spiritual high-impact life events. By taking a holistic frame to this experience, we can begin to take a collective and systemic approach to recovery.

BREAKING OUTDATED MYTHS ABOUT PSYCHOSIS

 
When we can’t understand it's harder to connect. When we don’t connect, we’re left to our own assumptions, fears, and outdated myths. Like these:
 
MYTH: Psychosis as only a destructive phenomenon, one that should be avoided at all costs, as deteriorating the brain each time someone enters into this state. 
TO: Psychosis is not to be feared, it is the coolest thing our brain does to protect us. Our brain is not our enemy, it is our biggest ally, but if we don't listen, we will suffer.
 
MYTH: Psychosis as a disorder of symptoms, with no meaning or value - a misfiring of neurons, a chemical imbalance. Any thought, idea, sense, experience in this state is seen as nonsense and ignored. 
TO: Psychosis is a collection of phenomena, full of meaning and valuable information about our needs, and how to address those needs. Needs can be physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.
 
MYTH: Psychosis as a binary state - there is no spectrum with which it exists, making it incredibly hard to identify early sensory experiences.
TO: Psychosis as a spectrum state - recognizing a descent into psychosis is not only possible, it can be a choice. 
 
MYTH: Psychosis as a biomedical disorder - treatment primarily consists of medicine and research/treatment methods are narrowly focused on this area.
TO: Psychosis as a transformative system collapse - Support is system focussed, Deep Listening to underlying needs, and addressing multiple areas at the same time. Sleep patterns, nutrition, thought patterns, inflammation, etc. 
 
MYTH: Psychosis as solely a problem of the client - discounts the value of context (life experience, relationships) on the experience. 
TO: Psychosis as a social systems problem - taking into account the value of context to an individual, as well as a social system
 
The lack of understanding results in a lack of action with missed windows for prevention and early detection, unnecessary emotional suffering, physical and emotional escalation. 

THE ANOIKSIS EXPERIMENT

 Made possible by

STICHTING DOEN

The Anoiksis Experience

In consortium with The Roomforthoughts Foundation, we received a grant from Stichting Doen for the development of the new VR psychosis simulation The Anoiksis Experience.

CREATIVE INDUSTRY FUNDS

The Anoiksis Map

A tool to help understand, navigate, and communicate experiences of psychosis (and more). Learn more about The Anoiksis Map here.

THE ROOMFORTHOUGHTS FOUNDATION

The Anoiksis Experiment

The Roomforthoughts Foundation helps others investigate their own Anoiksis experiences

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Be kind. Keep learning. Be mindful. Be forgiving. Respect boundaries. Keep trying

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