We met and interviewed Dr. John Read, PhD, at the recent ISEPP (Intl. Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry) Conference in Los Angeles. He’s a refreshingly down to earth, straight talking man of letters. John has spent the greater part of his life researching and writing about some of psychology’s most charged topics. Among them, the differences between Western biomedical and Maori’s traditional approach to psychosis.
John worked for nearly 20 years as a clinical psychologist and manager of mental health services in the UK and USA before joining the University of Auckland (New Zealand) in 1994. While there he published over 100 papers primarily on the relationship between adverse life events and psychosis. In February 2015, Dr. Read took up the post of Professor of Clinical Psychology at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. He’s on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis and editor of ISPS’s scientific journal Psychosis. John has co-authored or co-edited 3 books and is also the editor of the widely esteemed book, “Models of Madness: Psychological, Social and Biological Approaches to Schizophrenia” (Routledge, 2004) which has sold over 10,000 copies.
In our interview with John, he talks to us about how in New Zealand hearing voices are “a part of life for many Maori” and unlike in Western society it has cultural meaning.
