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Jaakko Seikkula (2008) has pointed towards the importance of practitioners working in the present moment in dialogical therapy. Extrapolating from Seikkula's work, this article considers the significance of the qualities of therapist attentiveness, generosity and negative capability in dialogical family meetings for psychosis. It is proposed that these qualities are of particular importance when family meetings occur in crisis situations, as when under pressure practitioners can easily be drawn into prematurely interventionist stances that may unintentionally promote chronicity for the person experiencing psychosis. The value of co-working arrangements in enabling practitioners to maintain attentiveness and negative capability in this work is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting a service user with his or her family in acute care settings to discuss their thoughts, hopes and concerns provides important therapeutic benefits. It can help counter some of the potentially negative consequences of hospital admission for the service user and family. Because people usually enter hospital during a period of crisis, approaches that are flexible and responsive to the specific needs of each client and family are required. To practise in this way, staff require access to training and continuing supervision that also needs to be delivered flexibly and responsively. INSETS: Case study one;Case study two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the work of R.D. Scott regarding crisis intervention in psychiatry in London, England. Career background of Scott; Issues increasing public anxiety about mental illness; Relevance of research of Scott to mental health nurses and psychiatric professionals.