“Is this a normal thought or is this a thought that I should challenge or not listen to because it may or may not be real? We do a lot of normalizing in order to destigmatize severe psychosis. We might be talking about something like [people talking about other people] and maybe [group members with psychosis] shouldn’t engage in a conversation [when they think that someone is talking about them]…but [group members] can normalize that situation by saying “you know, it’s very interesting that you’re talking about that because that’s the same kind of stuff that I think about sometimes”…[group members] are often surprised that people who do not have psychosis have similar thoughts as they do.” – Debra Bushong

Debra works with her clients on working through the experience of psychosis. Using cognitive remediation, she works with her clients on cognitive skills such as attention and executive functioning which are needed for being able to work through psychotic thinking. By working on these cognitive skills, Debra helps her clients learn how to step back, regulate their emotions, and look at a situation and examine it if it is based in reality. This also transfers for her clients in being able to manage relationships with family members and friends when her clients feel that there may be a conflict.