Tips On Working With Callers Having Psychosis Or Feeling Manic

Callers struggling with psychosis can be very difficult to understand (i.e., hard to follow story, rapid and disorganized speech).

Here are some Tips to help you connect with our callers:
1) Ask callers to slow down
“I'm having a hard time understanding. Please try to speak more slowly”

2) Callers may not have the ability to slow themselves down so you have to help them out.
It is okay to interrupt callers. Many callers really appreciate it when you are making a sincere effort to understand what is going on. Ask if you can clarify or paraphrase what you heard.
“I want to make sure I understand correctly. Can I repeat back want I heard?”

3) Don't get caught up with the details of the story. Focus on feeling words. You don't have to confirm or deny the caller's experience. Even though the details of the story may be unbelievable (the FBI is taping our phone conversation), the feelings are very real.




Empathize with feeling (e.g., terror, fear, etc.)
“That sounds really scary. Do you often times feel scared?”
“What do you do when you feel angry?”

4) Focus the call on immediate self care and safety.
“What do you need to do to feel safe?”
“Let's make a plan for tonight on how you can take care of yourself.”