Marco Mateus

Transformative Treatment 

of Psychosis,

Schizophrenia, 

Borderline, 

Bipolar Disorder,

Adolescents and Adults 


Online sessions in Portuguese and English

Marco Mateus

Natural treatment for psychosis

 in adolescents and adults

ONLINE SESSIONS IN PORTUGUESE AND ENGLISH

Marco  Mateus

Psychological and Emotional Crises

Schizophrenia

Borderline

Bipolar Disorder

Adolescents and Adults


Online sessions in Portuguese and English


Marco Mateus

Psychological and Emotional Crises
Psychosis
Schizophrenia
Borderline Personality Disorder
Bipolar Disorder


Online sessions in Portuguese and English

Conventional treatment problems

My vision

My therapeutic approach


Psychosis, it is structural in schizophrenia, cyclical in bipolar disorder, and momentarily emergent in borderline personality disorder, and it can also appear in different situations in life, affecting anyone, at any time.

Conventional treatment problems

The vision I share

My therapeutic approach

Success Stories

Nadine C., Inês' mother

(…)The truth is that, as weeks passed by, results were visible, medication was no longer necessary and Inês learned to live again, and above all, she once again enjoyed living in society. Thank you, life. Thank you, Marco!

Natália M.

(…)Today I have found inner peace, I started to have feelings (I always had emptiness inside) and most importantly, I have found a sense of balance within myself, which I thought impossible because of my diagnosis. Thank you Dr. Marco, and always stay the person that you are!

Inês S. F.

(…) All the prescription drugs I had been taking for years, which I was told I would have to take them for the rest of my life, were reduced to zero and I ceased to have psychosis. I did not need to hide the problem. I needed to address it and learn to cope with it. Today I am very happy. (…) Today, I am a great Woman!

Linda F.

I started online sessions with Marco after being hospitalized for 2 years with anorexia and psychotic events, severe depression and suicidal thoughts. They were no longer able to help me in the clinic. (…) Thanks to the intentional sessions, I have peace of mind again (…). I would recommend Marco to everyone.

Elsa F., Sara's mother

(…) Sara began to have a "lifeless" life (…). After years of visits to private practitioners and hospitals, nothing worked. (…) Contrary to what many doctors have told me, Sara has improved a lot with Therapist Marco Mateus. (…). We are endlessly grateful to Therapist Marco Mateus from all our hearts for his contribution and help in this journey.

Inês A.

(…) I met Marco after being diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and several suicide attempts. (…) Marco is an excellent professional in his field and now also a friend, I recommend him to all those who want to learn how to live better. With him, I have learned to see life from a completely new perspective.

Helena Jeronimo

I have managed Dr. Marco’s schedule for some years, and I had the opportunity to see how his work transformed other people's lives. (…) People who have been discharged from mental health institutions, who have attempted suicide and who are now getting on with their lives. (…) With all the confidence I recommend Dr. Marco Mateus as a therapist.

Nadine C., Inês' mother

(…)The truth is that, as weeks passed by, results were visible, medication was no longer necessary and Inês learned to live again, and above all, she once again enjoyed living in society. Thank you, life. Thank you, Marco!

Natália M.

(…)Today I have found inner peace, I started to have feelings (I always had emptiness inside) and most importantly, I have found a sense of balance within myself, which I thought impossible because of my diagnosis. Thank you Dr. Marco, and always stay the person that you are!

Inês S. F.

(…) All the prescription drugs I had been taking for years, which I was told I would have to take them for the rest of my life, were reduced to zero and I ceased to have psychosis. I did not need to hide the problem. I needed to address it and learn to cope with it. Today I am very happy. (…) Today, I am a great Woman!

Linda F.

I started online sessions with Marco after being hospitalized for 2 years with anorexia and psychotic events, severe depression and suicidal thoughts. They were no longer able to help me in the clinic. (…) Thanks to the intentional sessions, I have peace of mind again (…). I would recommend Marco to everyone.

Elsa F., Sara's mother

(…) Sara began to have a "lifeless" life (…). After years of visits to private practitioners and hospitals, nothing worked. (…) Contrary to what many doctors have told me, Sara has improved a lot with Therapist Marco Mateus. (…). We are endlessly grateful to Therapist Marco Mateus from all our hearts for his contribution and help in this journey.

Inês A.

(…) I met Marco after being diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and several suicide attempts. (…) Marco is an excellent professional in his field and now also a friend, I recommend him to all those who want to learn how to live better. With him, I have learned to see life from a completely new perspective.

Helena Jeronimo

I have managed Dr. Marco’s schedule for some years, and I had the opportunity to see how his work transformed other people's lives. (…) People who have been discharged from mental health institutions, who have attempted suicide and who are now getting on with their lives. (…) With all the confidence I recommend Dr. Marco Mateus as a therapist.

Nadine C., Inês' mother

(…)The truth is that, as weeks passed by, results were visible, medication was no longer necessary and Inês learned to live again, and above all, she once again enjoyed living in society. Thank you, life. Thank you, Marco!

Natália M.

(…)Today I have found inner peace, I started to have feelings (I always had emptiness inside) and most importantly, I have found a sense of balance within myself, which I thought impossible because of my diagnosis. Thank you Dr. Marco, and always stay the person that you are!

Inês S. F.

(…) All the prescription drugs I had been taking for years, which I was told I would have to take them for the rest of my life, were reduced to zero and I ceased to have psychosis. I did not need to hide the problem. I needed to address it and learn to cope with it. Today I am very happy. (…) Today, I am a great Woman!

Linda F.

I started online sessions with Marco after being hospitalized for 2 years with anorexia and psychotic events, severe depression, and suicidal thoughts. They were no longer able to help me in the clinic. (...)Thanks to the intentional sessions, I have peace of mind again. (...) I would recommend Marco to everyone.

Elsa F., Sara's mother

(…) Sara began to have a "lifeless" life (…). After years of visits to private practitioners and hospitals, nothing worked. (…) Contrary to what many doctors have told me, Sara has improved a lot with Therapist Marco Mateus. (…). We are endlessly grateful to Therapist Marco Mateus from all our hearts for his contribution and help in this journey.

Inês A.

(…) I met Marco after being diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and several suicide attempts. (…) Marco is an excellent professional in his field and now also a friend, I recommend him to all those who want to learn how to live better. With him, I have learned to see life from a completely new perspective.

Helena Jeronimo

I have managed Dr. Marco’s schedule for some years, and I had the opportunity to see how his work transformed other people's lives. (…) People who have been discharged from mental health institutions, who have attempted suicide and who are now getting on with their lives. (…) With all the confidence I recommend Dr. Marco Mateus as a therapist.

Conventional treatment problems

What is the conventional understanding of psychosis?


Conventional thinking: psychosis is a serious mental illness where the individual has difficulty in having normal thought patterns and distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Symptoms include delusions, which are untenable beliefs about oneself and/or others, as well as behavioural, thought and perceptual disorders with auditory, visual, tactile or olfactory hallucinations.


Conventional treatment


Conventional psychiatry makes use of drugs such as neuroleptics (antipsychotics), tranquillisers and antidepressants and, in the case of acute crisis, hospitalisation.

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    Drug therapy risks


    Antipsychotic drugs always have adverse effects: neurotoxicity, akathisia (motor restlessness), neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), delirium, hypothermia, hyperprolactinaemia (high prolactin levels), tardive dyskinesia (TD), endocrine changes (absence of menstruation, weight gain, and sexual dysfunction), sialorrhoea (drooling), postural hypotension and blepharospasm (chronic eyelid twitching).

    Medication is not a treatment, but an alleviation of "psychotic symptoms". 

    Taking antipsychotic drugs for long periods increases the risk of becoming chronically ill, as well as having potentially irreversible psychological and physical consequences. 

    Inability to adapt to medication is also common, which increases the profile of adverse effects, leading to further psychological and emotional distress. Often, medication adjustments take years until they are 'right'.



    The problems of conventional diagnosis and intervention


    Personally speaking, I have nothing against physicians, medication or hospitals, because I know people who have benefitted from pharmacotherapy. The problem is that this is seen as ‘the one’ model that can actually work and help anyone, considering these issues from a purely biological point of view with pharmacotherapy as the only solution.

    This is the so-called objective science, though this might not be the case here, especially because only a number of clients seem to benefit from pharmacotherapy.

    In my opinion, the diagnostic belief that psychosis is a serious mental illness is a deep reflection of the sociocultural problems we have in our world today. 

    We live in a fast-paced world that prioritises economic profit rather than human beings. The biggest obstacle is the conventional and old-fashioned way that psychology and psychiatry view human beings. The DSM, which stands for “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”, is a diagnostic manual that describes people as broken entities, in addition to being a sophisticated method that does not really listen to people, from my point of view. 

    This manual is a tool that grants great social authority to those who use it. I would like to mention that "serious mental illnesses" bring many difficulties to those who do not adapt to pharmacotherapy, thus clients end up becoming more socially disconnected and ill.


The vision I share

Schizophrenia

Psychosis is a central feature of schizophrenia.

It involves delusions, hallucinations, and a loss of contact with reality.
Here, psychosis is structural and persistent.


Bipolar Disorder

During severe manic or depressive episodes, psychotic symptoms may occur (such as grandiose delusions or persecutory ideas).
Psychosis is episodic, not continuous.


Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder can present transient psychotic symptoms, usually linked to intense stress (such as brief paranoid ideas or distortions of reality).
It is not structural psychosis, but reactive and temporary.


Psychosis can also manifest in many different situations, affecting anyone at any time. It is generally associated with moments of transition(1), intoxication, or loss.


What is Psychosis

Psychosis is a natural process that anyone can experience. When of psychological origin, I do not see psychosis as a serious illness in any way, but rather as an opportunity the individual’s brain provides to update mental processes. In other words, it is an urgent signal to organize one’s world of ideas.


Psychosis occurs in the brain of someone who has not adapted to their environment, due to a combination of biological and social factors, has allowed space for it to manifest.


The person also involuntarily creates a hyper-meaning and focus on the world around them and simultaneously within themselves.


Other increasingly accepted perspectives interpret it as a call for help, such as a spiritual awakening or a request from the brain to expand consciousness.

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    The Cause of Psychosis

    Psychosis is a natural consequence,

    Born from long exposure to psychological or physiological stress.From the mind’s side, it may arise from neurosis, a philosophical quest for the self, or a sudden imbalance in life, circumstances involving one’s community, close relationships, the loss of a family member, lack of professional integration, or personal religious or spiritual growth.Not merely from trauma, as many believe,its roots are countless, like rivers feeding the same sea.


    From the body’s realm, It may spring from drugs, genetic tendencies, or rarely, grave diseases like a tumor in the brain.The cause is seldom one alone, often a constellation of many, sometimes one spark, sometimes several.


    The Dangers and the Bright Sides

    To suffer lifelong from depression, anxiety, or neurosis Is deemed “normal” by society. Yet the symptom of psychosis is not so kindly received, and such thinking breeds devastation, In personal, family, and social life.


    Psychosis, unlike quieter disorders, is a crisis of fire and storm, but within that fire lies transformation. A big chance for renewal,

    for profound and lasting change.


    As Dr. John Weir Perry once revealed:

    There need not be limiting diagnoses,

    Nor the quieting drugs that risk turning the passage Into a chronic cage.


    The Crucial Point

    The one who enters psychosis lives through experiences rare and radiant, Intellectual, physical, intuitive, and sensory. They should not be dismissed or numbed, but honored, integrated, and woven into growth.


    The true dangers of psychosis

    Are not the experiences themselves, but rather


    To accept dramatic, fatalistic diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolarity, borderline, or any other psychological diagnosis;


    To place pharmacological treatment

    as the first and only path;


    To suffer the pain of adaptation to medication;


    To endure the stigma of family and society;


    To lack therapeutic guidance with hope at its heart.


    The Bright Sides, Those who pass through psychosis often emerge with gifts


    A charismatic presence;


    Intellectual and physical depth;


    The power of communication;


    High intelligence;


    Artistic talent;


    The ability to grasp complex truths;


    Refined intuition and heightened senses;


    The soul of a healer;


    A spiritual awakening, an expansion of consciousness itself.

My therapeutic approach

My approach to treating psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and deep psychological crises does not follow a fixed method, but rather a series of strategies and techniques adapted to each moment, pace, and psychological profile. It requires extensive experience, sensitivity, heart, and exceptional care in every word, gesture, approach, and technique. Everything has an impact.


1. A welcoming environment


The person is sincerely welcomed and deeply understood, despite all their differences and needs. Furthermore, and contrary to popular belief, we can conduct many sessions in a light and fun way while working on what is important.

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    2. Relationship with pain


    For many people, the idea that, during therapy, you have to talk about trauma, go through moments of great pain or emotional distress is a common belief as well as scary. 


    In this therapy, these methods are not used, as they are considered counterproductive. 

    The emphasis is on organising, stimulating, using and directing the client’s abilities and, if there is an actual need to work on trauma, this is done in a sophisticated, “surgical” and rapid manner, without the person having to talk about things they do not want to.



     3. The therapeutic process is always personalized, which means that the work varies in intensity and priorities for each person. However, in general, the approach focuses on developing the following characteristics:


    - Finding meaning in the presented difficulties;

    - Organising one’s world of ideas;

    - Sorting out double binds (specific confusion thoughts);

    - Organising one’s emotions;

    - Organising one’s perceptions, helping the individual to distinguish internally generated fantasies from external reality;

    - Reducing, eliminating and controlling hallucinations and delusions;

    - Better understanding the metaphorical language of hallucinations and delusions;

    - Working on possible trauma;

    - Developing a more sustainable sense of SELF;

    - Developing flexibility during altered states of consciousness;

    - Developing new physical and psychological awareness during social interactions,

    - Involvement and guidance of the family in the treatment process,

    - Technical-mental training,

    - Homework,

    - Suggestions for optimising mental and physical well-being.


     4. The therapeutic process is natural, without prescription drugs.


    The person, who is not on pharmacotherapy, can start the treatment naturally, without any medication.


    The person who is on prescription drugs and still has symptoms can start a natural treatment. After significant improvement, they can start to reduce the medication under the supervision of their psychiatrist, if so desire.


    5. Therapy Completion 


    The duration of treatment is assessed on a case-by-case scenario, but usually ranges from a few weeks to six months. Therapy is completed when the person is free or has high self-control of the symptoms, is psychologically and emotionally. 


    After treatment, in some cases, the person may experience minor symptoms from time to time, but they have the skills to manage these naturally and continue their normal life. Among many people, there are clear improvements after the first few sessions, which makes it easier for many to get on with their academic or professional life, if necessary. 

    One maintenance session or a small group is recommended within one year after the end of treatment.


    What benefits can be expected from this natural therapy?


    Clients can find themselves recovered or attain significant improvements.


    What are the requirements for therapy?


    The client’s willingness and desire to improve. 


    Who can benefit from this therapy?


    The age group that benefits the most from this therapy are teenagers and young adults.


    The second group that benefits the most is those who are experiencing the symptoms for the first time.


    The third group that benefits the most are those who live with symptoms, but manage to work and have a more or less active social life.


    The fourth group consists of people living with symptoms, who doesn’t  work and/or have an active social life, thus seeking balance in a more natural and Humanistic way.