Open Dialogue is an alternative approach[1] for treating psychosis as well as other mental health disorders developed in the 1980s in Finland by Yrjö Alanen and his collaborators.
Key factors enhancing Open Dialogue implementation included well-trained staff, regular supervisions, research capabilities, diverse professional teams, self-referrals, outpatient services, younger clients, and the involvement of experts by experience.
Postulating that "an open dialogue, without any preplanned themes or forms seems to be important in enabling the construction of a new language in which to express difficult events in one's life.
"[10] This understanding differs radically from common psychiatric models of psychosis that view it as being caused by a biological process in the brain, such as the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia.
It includes chapters on long term randomised, controlled research projects currently underway in the UK, Italy and Denmark to establish an evidence base for Open Dialogue in those national health services, funded by grants from the NIH in the UK and the Ministry of Health in Italy.