Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Mental illness – Personal narratives'
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Lee, Jessica Nalani Oi Jun. "Too Much Information: Agency and Disruptions of Power in Personal Narratives of Mental Illness and Suffering." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/323465.
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Healing in the mental health system of the 21st century is difficult as the credibility of mental health users is constantly called into question, their experiences and perceptions of their "illness" undervalued or even completely ignored. This attitude towards mental health users must be changed in order to work towards truly alleviating mental illness and suffering. Careful analysis of the rhetoric of published personal narratives written by women describing their experiences with mental healthcare reveals the ways in which medical knowledge is created, owned, and disseminated only by the “authoritative expert,” defined as healthcare professionals who categorize, taxonomize, and pathologize in order to treat both physical and mental illness. I argue the authoritative expert marginalizes the "everyday expert," exemplified through the perceptions of women who, in their narratives, record realities that do not always match the diagnoses and prognoses assigned to them by their healthcare providers. My project's central question asks: In what ways do personal narratives of mental illness and suffering illuminate the ways in which language constructs reality? My research illuminates the ways in which narratives of mental illness and suffering are healing, and thus serves as an advocate for patient rights, both by empowering patients and by furthering discussion among medical professionals regarding problematizing "standard" treatment. My work advances the connection between politics and language as it takes a commonly undervalued form of language and lived experience--narrative--and researches the ways in which it has been and can continue to be used as a powerful political agent to empower mental health users by giving them a voice. Specifically, I demonstrate how patients' personal experiences should and can be valued as a way to illuminate their own understanding of their disease as well as to inform their treatment. This project lays the foundation for future research examining ways treatment for mental illness should be differentiated from treatment for physical illness. I am interested in ways to further combat the stigma of mental illness by looking at ways providers can honor and respect the opinions and values of mental health patients in non-pejorative ways.
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Blackstone, Kerri Lynn. "Stigma and Identity Formation in Young Adults with Chronic Mental Illness: An Exploration through Personal Narrative and Art-Making." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2013. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/32.
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This research explores the experience of stigma and its effect on identity formation in young adults who suffer from chronic mental illness. Data was gathered in the form of personal narratives and art-making through a a semi-structured, qualitative focus group. It was categorized and coded in order to better understand the experience of both public and internalized stigma in relation to the developmental milestones that characterize the important transition from adolescence to adulthood. Analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of three overarching themes: 1) The challenges of coping with a stigmatizing system, 2) Internalized stigma as it relates to the formation of adult identity, and 3) The use of art to combat stigma and facilitate self-discovery. These themes were examined against existing literature pertaining to the stigma of mental illness, identity formation in young adults, and the use of art to combat stigma and promote healthy identity. The findings of this research emphasize the insidious nature of stigma and ofer support for the ability of art-based programs to empower young adults who face the challenges of mental illness.
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Pfaff, Aleisha. "Coping with the personal loss of having a parent with mental illness young adults' narrative accounts of spiritual struggle and strength /." Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1212702768.
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Fox, Stacey Jade. "The idea of madness in Dorothy Richardson, Leonora Carrington and Anais Nin." University of Western Australia. English and Cultural Studies Discipline Group, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0194.
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Coppock, Mary Jane. "Polarizing Narratives: Harmful Representations of Mental Illness and Bipolar in Popular Media." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2017. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/953.
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Representations of mental illness in mainstream media have historically been infantilizing and dangerous. In the last century, dominant media has perpetuated inaccurate and damaging tropes about bipolar disorder in particular, perpetuating misunderstanding and stigma. Despite this fact, art can provide an outlet through which healthy images that promote understanding and sympathy can be dispersed. My project, Polarized, presents a more accurate representation of the disorder and its effects on individuals who struggle with it, as well as their loved ones. Bipolar disorders are a group of mental illnesses that cause dramatic shifts in an individual’s mood, energy, thinking ability, and sexual drive. In popular media, bipolar is represented in a number of different problematic ways ranging from childishness to irrational violence, which provide damaging stereotypes of the bipolar community and ultimately serve to further ostracize the bipolar community. Polarized’s critique of representations of disability in hegemonic discourse is informed by true stories and histories of mental illness. The short’s narrative is fictional, inspired by my own experience as a young woman with Bipolar II and augmented with the research and memoirs of manic-depressive diagnosed clinician Kay Jamison as written in An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness.
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Wainwright, Raymond Geoffrey. "How do phenomena diagnosed as mental illness impact upon personal identity?" Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2010. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/20832/.
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The central question of this study was to ascertain how phenomena diagnosed as mental illness impacted upon sense of personal identity. To facilitate the necessary research, the aims of this study were to examine the experience of mental illness from the perspective of service users. Nine adult respondents (five men, four women) participated in a series of unstructured interviews, each lasting approximately one and a half hours. Some respondents were interviewed twice. Data from the interviews were transcribed by the researcher and subjected to four levels of analysis. Of these levels, the first was the act of transcription, the second conclusions following same, the third close scrutiny of the transcribed document, and the fourth deconstruction into 'idea units'. Integral to this exercise was the use of narrative theory to develop concepts of the respondents' personal narratives with particular reference to the respondents' mental health narratives. Following the four levels of analysis, the personal narratives of the respondents were compared and contrasted in a cross-case analysis. With reference to narrative models developed for the specific purpose of this study, the conclusion was drawn that initial experience of mental illness has a profound effect upon the personal narrative. Thereafter, the resultant impact upon personal identity is influenced by a combination of personal and environmental factors. Some of these may lead to a re-evaluation of past experiences and associated understanding. Accordingly, the outcome of the illness experience may not necessarily be negative, but may be positive by virtue of insights gained. Implications for mental health practice and further research, including the personalisation agenda, are considered.
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London, Carlyle. "Stigma and mental illness : a comparative study of attitudes and personal constructs." Thesis, Brunel University, 2010. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/4447.
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Evidence suggests that people with mental illness experience discrimination by being stigmatised both by the general public and by healthcare professionals. The experience of stigma may result in a delay in seeking professional help, loss of self-esteem and is a serious inhibitor to recovery and social inclusion. Stigma and discrimination are pervasive and despite a number of UK based campaigns, there appears to be no reduction in prevalence. This research compared public attitudes towards mental illness and the mentally ill with mental health service users' perceptions of stigma, identified perceptions of stigma by mental health service users, quantified and qualified these perceptions alongside reported accounts of being stigmatised and made recommendation for strategies to reduce the stigma experienced by people with mental illness. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken and involved the use of a 35-item attitude scale, employed with 132 members of the public and 132 self-selecting service users. Semi-structured interviews and Personal Construct Psychology Repertory Grid techniques were employed with subsets of the sample. Qualitative data was subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Quantitative data was analysed using inferential statistical tests and Principal Component Analysis. The perception of stigma amongst service users was relatively high and appeared to be pervasive. Male service users reported higher perceptions of stigma than females. The combination of being stigmatised by mental health professionals and the general public appeared to result in self stigma and social exclusion. Recommendations include addressing the causes and mechanism of stigmatisation, the inclusion of service users' perspectives in research and raising awareness, amongst mental health professionals, on how their practice may impact on service users. Further research should address why there is a higher perception of stigma amongst male service users.
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McKay, Elizabeth Anne. ""Rip that whole book up - I've changed" : life and work narratives of mental illness." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2002. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=21202.
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Women with enduring mental illness are little considered in research and there is a dearth of occupational therapy literature concerning mental illness, although a third of therapists work in this speciality. This study explored two groups of women within a Scottish context. Phase One involved five women who lived with enduring mental illness, and Phase Two included sixteen occupational therapists who worked in mental health settings with similar women. Qualitative methodology, specifically, life history and focus group interviews, were used to give voice to the women's life and therapists' work experiences. The data from the women's life history interviews was analysed using narrative analysis. This produced a unique, powerful narrative for each illustrating their complex, individualised experiences, allowing insight into and understanding of effects within their lives. This data was then analysed using constant comparative analysis. Six themes portrayed their lives. The findi ngs highlighted the women's experiences as victims and importantly, as agents for themselves and others. Related to their personal agency was the need for future goals and hopes to be recognised and nurtured by health professionals. Furthermore, the significance of the women's experiences along the continuum of motherhood adds to our understanding of the long-term impact of continuing mental illness on women, their children and families. Overall, the women identified that they were experts in their own lives. The focus group material was also subjected to constant comparative analysis. Five themes encapsulated the processes that underpinned therapists' interventions and the inter-dependency of their actions within specific work contexts. Comparison across the two groups of women revealed three common issues: their need for safe environments, their feelings of powerlessness and the importance of being heard. These findings have implications for occupational therapy practice and research specifically as well as conveying important lessons to other professionals.
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Spencer, Matt. "An ecological exploration of personal recovery in the context of severe mental illness." Thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, 2013. http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/12477/.
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This study had two objectives: to develop an ecological understanding of personal recovery in the context of severe mental illness (SMI) with a UK-based sample, and to develop a model of the discovery of hope and meaning in recovery, and relevant helping and hindering factors. A grounded theory methodology was employed as a framework for collecting and analysing qualitative data. The study provides an emergent ecological model of growth in the context of personal recovery incorporating seven theoretical categories including; prevailing contexts, the importance of relationships, purposeful goals, values-commitment, emerging self-efficacy, wellness experience, and tangible and intangible hope. The emergent model provides a novel understanding of the individual, ecological and interactional factors facilitating the discovery of hope and meaning in life. It is anticipated that such findings will benefit the provision of statutory and peer-run mental health services, and support further research into growth in the context of SMI.
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Boyer, Duane, and mikewood@deakin edu au. "Defining moments in men's lives: A study of personal narratives." Deakin University, 2004. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20050727.123714.
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This study explores the defining moments in six mens lives. The empirical dimension of the research is built around the personal narratives these men tell of their lives across a series of four interviews. The central research theme is the notion of the defining moment as a key element in the processes of establishing how men understand and interpret the events and incidents that have shaped their lives. In the context of this study, the defining moment is seen as the moment or period in time when an individual gives definition to a specific event or experience, as a transition point with (potentially) life-altering consequences. Some of the thematic structures presented include relationships with significant adults (parents, teachers), masculinity, self-harm, schooling, mental illness, isolation, loneliness, stress and relationships with peers.
In my pursuit of a methodology that could accommodate the aims of this study, I explored the process of meaning through the qualitative paradigm. Drawing on the principles of qualitative research, as applied through narrative inquiry, I deployed a semi-structured interview format to collect the lived experiences of participants. By privileging the stories that individuals tell of their experiences, the narrative method recognises that data are inexorably located in the contextual and contingent. The experiences and narratives that are presented in this thesis are built around the authentic voices of participants.
The study presents a warrant for working with mens defining moments to disrupt, alter and redefine their attitudes and behaviours in order to improve their lives. Based on the insights gleaned through this study, I argue that there are defining times/points in peoples lives where their experiences can be life altering. When these experiences involve uncertainty, anxiety, stress and other pernicious effects, their longer-term consequences can be devastating. The study confirms existing research, that men are reluctant to seek help or reveal their insecurities during such times, therefore making them particularly vulnerable to defining moments.
The conclusion of this thesis establishes some broad recommendations pertaining to working effectively with men and their defining moments. I focus particular attention on the place of schooling and education in helping individuals recognise and respond to the early symptoms of what is potentially a life-altering experience. Schools and, by association, teachers need to be actively and strategically involved in this process. To this end, I argue the need for targeted interventions that are both sensitive and timely. In their engagements with young males, parents, teachers, coaches and mentors need to be particularly attuned to their silent screams for help.
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Davies, Kerry Elisabeth. "Narratives beyond the walls : patients' experiences of mental health and illness in Oxfordshire since 1948." Thesis, Oxford Brookes University, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.394666.
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Aguirre, Rosa M. "PERSONAL LOSS AND MENTAL ILLNESS: CAN SOCIAL NETWORKS HELP YOUNG ADULTS AND PARENTS COPE?" Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1174922228.
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Wallcraft, Janet Louisa. "Turning towards recovery? : a study of personal narratives of mental health crisis and breakdown." Thesis, London South Bank University, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.618673.
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This is a qualitative study in which twenty seven people who had experienced a mental health crisis or breakdown and received psychiatric treatment were interviewed in depth. The interviews were carried out in 1996 and 1998, and were tape recorded and transcribed, then analysed using grounded theory and narrative methods. The narratives were compared to an extended version of the Caplan (1964) Crisis Theory, i.e. that crises are likely to be psychosocial in origin, and to go through identifiable stages and turning points towards health and recovery or long term mental patient status. The extended Caplan model was found helpful in analysing crisis narratives. Most people did go through identifiable phases of crisis, and turning points could be observed where treatment and intervention had helped or caused further upset and damage. In most cases, people did relate their crises to life events, even where they had ultimately come to accept that they had a mental illness. Categories of crisis experience emerging from this study are proposed as an alternative to diagnosis. Most people sought a place of safety during crisis, and wanted professional care or an opportunity to shed responsibility for a time, but in many cases the lack of appropriate help appeared to be a major factor in subsequent crises and the adoption of a mental patient identity. Social class was a factor in accessing good crisis care, but impacted little on crisis aftermath, where most people felt they had had unsatisfactory care. Most had suffered loss of social status and opportunities for work and independence, though many had found strategies to cope with their lives through involvement with community groups, finding enjoyable activities and working to help others or campaign for changes in the system. It is suggested that more research of this kind could help to address the problems of existing crisis services based on the discourse of psychopathology and begin to develop more appropriate services for prevention and crisis care with a greater emphasis on psychosocial factors, self-advocacy, good listening, and community support.
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Dominicé, Dao Melissa. "Making sense of illness in the absence of diagnosis : patients' and physicians' narratives of medically unexplained symptoms." Thesis, McGill University, 2006. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=101113.
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The aim of this study was to improve medical understanding of patients' illness experience and everyday thinking about physical distress, by focusing on patients' and physicians' narratives of medically unexplained symptoms. Semi-structured interviews were held with 16 Canadian and immigrant patients from two primary care clinics in Montreal, and separately with their physician. Detailed content analysis reveals that, despite the absence of diagnosis, both patient and physicians hold complex and dynamic models of illness. Physicians' explanations rely almost exclusively on biomedical constructs, whereas patients' models of illness draw from a much wider range of sources of experience and authority. Despite regular follow-up, physicians have very limited access to the intricate networks of meaning revealed in their patients' interviews. In fact, although there is some common ground of understanding, patients and physicians show low congruence of their models, and much discrepancy in the expected outcome and management. Eliciting patients' illness narratives rather than focusing on narrow biomedical issues offers promising possibilities for physicians to negotiate meaning with their patients. The richness of patients' models provides potential avenues leading out of the clinical impasse of medically unexplained symptoms.
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Potokar, Danielle Nicole. "Living with Serious Mental Illness: The Role of Personal Loss in Recovery and Quality of Life." Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1224012694.
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Xie, Huiting. "Personal Strengths and Recovery in Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1333579633.
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Mueri, Christine Andrea. "'Defined not by time, but by mood': First-person narratives of bipolar disorder." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1307662397.
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Martinez, Esther C. "Nothing Normal Happens to Me: True Stories of a Journey from Madness to Motherhood." FIU Digital Commons, 2015. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1934.
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Written in first person, NOTHING NORMAL HAPPENS TO ME is a memoir in essays that traces the narrator’s journey from self-destruction to creation. Part one encompasses the narrator’s lost years, after she breaks free from the tyranny of her mentally ill mother and goes to live on her own at 17. Part two provides context for those bad girl years, exploring her childhood when she identified with her histrionic mother. Part three comprises stories about the narrator’s years of awakening when she seeks out transcendence, faith, and a family of her own. The pieces vary tonally and stylistically as they attempt to trace the maturing voice of the narrator. Like SEEKING RAPTURE: SCENES FROM A WOMAN’S LIFE by Kathryn Harrison, this collection centers on a young girl, who without her mother’s love, struggles to love herself. It is both a cautionary tale and a story of redemption.
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McGuire, Wise Stephanie Dawn Ph D. "The Effects of Anti-Stigma Interventions in Resident Advisors' Attitudes Toward Mental Illness." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo148016474472632.
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Suto, Erengo. "Exploration of Second Generation Hungarian American Identity Development Through Art and Personal Narratives." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2011. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/83.
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This paper was an exploration of second generation Hungarian American identity development seeking to augment the understanding we have regarding second generation immigration, and particularly that of the children of those Hungarians who left during the communist occupation or shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The research methodology used was a qualitative inquiry of semi-structured narrative interviews with an art-making component, from which emergent themes were identified. The five emergent overarching themes found were: The unique experience of being Second- Generation to immigrant parents, Hungarian American Identity, Misperceptions connected to being part of a white minority group, A closed system serves as a protective factor, and Art as a facilitator for expression and meaning making. These themes are examined against existent literature pertaining to the experience of second-generation Hungarian Americans, and discussed within the context of clinical applications and possible future research.
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Alves, Thiago. "Exploring Underrepresented Narratives : Social Anxiety in Games." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för informationsteknologi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-15563.
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This research focuses on pushing forward the understanding of mental disorders portrayals in games, more specifically social anxiety, which still lies as a marginalized topic in this medium. In order to understand honest manifestations of social anxiety in games, the first step is to conduct a close reading of games made by people who suffer from this mental disorder. A collection of five indie games, all of autobiographical nature and featuring social anxiety as an important part of their text, was put together for this analysis. This was done embracing the need to address the representational complexity, in order to tap into such a nuanced and elusive topic as social anxiety, not to identify rights or wrongs, but to engage in a discussion of how experiences are represented in games by people directly affected by this mental disorder. Individual experiences also contribute to expand interpretations and to identify additional keys of social anxiety representation. This is done by reaching informants, people living with a comorbid mental illnesses or disorders, that face or had faced social anxiety, and assess their perspectives through an experiential workshop. This work intends to further explore the practice of game design as mediator of experiences, contributing to both deepen the knowledge of game design and explore nuances of individual experiences present in autobiographical games and how this relates to perspectives of other people living with social anxiety. By combining the games and informants perspectives it is possible to structure a debate about game design patterns based on the findings of the game analysis and further elaborated with the nuanced perceptions gathered from informants. The knowledge acquired through this work is a step towards understanding of how games can represent, in an honest and non-stereotypical way, mental disorders, starting with social anxiety and, hopefully, contribute to spark other studies to broaden the spectrum of how the complexity of adverse mental conditions can be more respectfully addressed in games.
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Leith, Jaclyn E. "Personal Loss in Well Siblings of Adults with Serious Mental Illness: Implications for Caregiving, Growth, and Sibling Needs." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1308104801.
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Miles, Stephanie Anne. "A dual-process approach to stigma reduction using online, user-generated narratives in social media messages." Diss., University of Iowa, 2016. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2122.
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Mental illness is a widespread public health concern. Stigma is a known barrier to recovery, and individuals often avoid seeking treatment because of it. The purpose of my research was to understand how individuals process peer-created, mental illness messages on social media, and to what extent these messages reduce stigma. I conducted two experiments based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to examine attitudes related to negative beliefs about mental illness and preferred social distance from mentally ill individuals.
Argument quality and amount of elaboration influenced empathetic responses to a message. Empathy was directly associated with a decrease in stigmatized beliefs about mental illness. Individuals who perceived that the message sharer was a close, trusted friend were more likely to indicate that the original message creator was more credible. Original message creators who disclosed having a mental illness were also perceived as more credible than creators who did not disclose having a mental illness. In addition, participants who perceived that the message sharer positively endorsed the message had less stigmatized beliefs about mental illness than participants who perceived negative endorsements.
Results of this project suggest that traditional ELM variables, such as elaboration and argument quality, influence the processing and outcomes of viewing social media messages about mental illness. Several new media characteristics, such as who shares the message online and comments they attach to the message, also influence how users think about the message and influence processing outcomes.
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Pfaff, Aleisha Marie. "Coping with the personal loss of having a parent with mental illness: Young adults'narrative accounts of spiritual struggle and strength." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1212702768.
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Maris, Jennifer H. E. "The experience and significance of sharing creative writing associated with times of personal difficulty." Thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, 2013. http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/12494/.
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There is limited research concerning the sharing of writing associated with times of personal difficulty. This study aimed to explore the experience and significance of this process with a focus on the interpersonal factors involved and how the potential benefits could be conceptualised. Eight participants were recruited through purposive sampling and interviewed regarding their experiences. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the transcripts. Four superordinate themes of ‘Putting the self into the world’; ‘Taking ownership of the process’; ‘Making connections with others’; and ‘Moving beyond surviving to thriving’ were interpreted from the data. Interpersonal factors were of great significance and were discussed in connection with a range of theorists including those from fields of psychoanalysis, phenomenology and humanism. The overall findings were conceptualised through identified links with Ryff’s (1989) multidimensional model of well-being. The findings suggest that the sharing of creative writing associated with times of personal difficulty may be a valuable activity in promoting well-being in both clinical and non-clinical populations. It may be particularly helpful for people who have experienced, or are at risk of social isolation given the experiences that first led the participants to creative writing, and the centrality of ‘connection within others’ within their accounts.
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Abraham, Kristen M. "When Mom has a Serious Mental Illness: The Mother-Young Adult Relationship, Caregiving, and Psychosocial Adjustment." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1287965059.
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McCartney, Michelle. "'When normal words just aren't enough' : the experience and significance of creative writing at times of personal difficulty." Thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, 2011. http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/10339/.
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Section A consists of a review of the literature relating the therapeutic use of creative writing. It highlights gaps in the literature and suggesting potential avenues of further research. Section B presents the findings of a phenomenological study which aimed to explore the experience and significance of creative writing at times of personal difficulty through the analysis of written accounts. Method. Twenty one people who had personal experience of creative writing in the context of difficult life experiences submitted written accounts. These were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, Larkin & Flowers, 2009). Results. Four main themes were identified: 1) Struggle with a difficult experience, 2) Turning to creative writing, 3) Dealing with it ‘as a matter of words’ and 4) Rejoining the world. A conceptual model illustrating how these master themes are related is presented. Conclusion. Creative writing was deemed to have played an important and meaningful role in helping participants to integrate and move beyond difficult life experiences. Limitations and clinical implications of the study are discussed and suggestions are made for future research. Section C involves a critical appraisal of the study presented in Section B. Reflections on the process of the study, as well as further implications and clinical applications are discussed.
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Pavlo, Anthony John. "Comparing the Experiential Constructivist Diagnostic System and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Testing an alternative to the medicalization of human distress." Oxford, Ohio : Miami University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=miami1218492592.
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Walby, Gary W. "Associations between individual, social, and service factors, recovery expectations and recovery strategies for individuals with mental illness." [Tampa, Fla.] : University of South Florida, 2006. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0002203.
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O'Brien, Kate. "Art-making as a resource for the emergence of alternative personal and recovery narratives for people with an experience of psychosis." Thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, 2014. http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/13047/.
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Dominant narratives about psychosis portray individuals as lonely, dangerous and unable to contribute to society. Such views may be incorporated into an individual’s personal story and are associated with negative outcomes for personal and clinical recovery. Art-making is associated with personal meaning-making and alternative forms of expression. It is therefore considered potentially relevant to narrative modification. Adult service-users with psychosis participated in a gallery-based art-making intervention. At interview, participants used their self-created images to help tell their story. Literary, experience-centred and culturally-oriented lenses were used to analyse narratives. Turning-points as modifiers of stigmatised dominant narratives were explored, as was how the intervention supported recovery. Art-making was associated with achievement, challenge and satisfaction. Story-telling using visual and verbal means opened up stories and alternative perspectives for participants. Recovery-principles including hope and aspiration were supported, identified through goals and recognition of achievement. Sharing experiences with others with similar experiences was viewed as impacting positively on mental-health. The intervention represented effective partnership working between NHS services and a gallery in overcoming barriers to accessing the arts, for people with psychosis. Achievements in art-making and narrating experience using visual and verbal means offered alternatives to personally limiting and illness-dominated narratives.
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Fu, Wai, and 符瑋. "Data-mining as a methodology for explaining written narratives: an application on understanding the breastcancer experience among Hong Kong Chinese women." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2007. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B39557911.
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Osborn, Lawrence Andrew. "Recovery-Oriented Services and The Provider-Consumer Relationship: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Of Community Mental Health Care Providers In Virginia." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1355872551.
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Fischer, Emily Rebecca. "Negotiating agency and personal narrative in clinical social work practice : a qualitative study investigating how clinicians' experiences of multiple narratives influence their clinical work : a project based upon an independent investigation /." View online, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10090/5881.
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Odisho, Maria, and Sanna Svensson. "Psykisk ohälsa bland ensamkommande ungdomar : En kvalitativ studie om personal på HVB-hems upplevelser och förhållningssätt av psykisk ohälsa bland ensamkommande barn och ungdomar." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-79728.
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This is a qualitative study on mental health among unaccompanied children in Swedish residential care. The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of the work and interaction with these children for anyone that in one way or another encounters unaccompanied children in their profession. To achieve this, we examined the experiences of staff members in residential care regarding mental health among unaccompanied children, by conducting semi-structured interviews of staff members. This study includes descriptions of how the interviewees experience mental illness and what challenges and difficulties they encounter in their work. Furthermore, the study also includes factors the interviewees believe are important in promoting mental health. The results show that mental illness amongst unaccompanied children in residential care is a recurring issue. The interviewees describe that mental illness can be expressed in anxiety, aggression, depression, insomnia, self-harm, isolation and psychosomatic symptoms. Socio-cultural differences is stated in the results as a challenge in ways that the children and the staff members have different norms and values. Moreover it is also described that the children’s view on what mental illness is, how they talk about it and how they handle it, is different from what the staff are used to and can lead to misunderstandings. Furthermore the results also show that interviewees believe the main cause behind the children’s poor well-being is the challenges they meet and the pressure they feel when they arrive to a new country. Challenges and pressure such as learning a new language and integrating in a new society. The interviewees describe it as being important to support and be available for the children, and for the children to find and be part of meaningful connections. Keywords: unaccompanied children/youth/minors, mental illness, mental health, residental care homes, refugees
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Ohlsson, Robert. "Representationer av psykisk ohälsa : Egna erfarenheter och dialogiskt meningsskapande i fokusgruppsamtal." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Pedagogiska institutionen, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-29952.
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The aim of the thesis is to explore socially shared ideas about mental illness in everyday contexts. Drawing on social representation theory, organizations for users of mental health services and self-help groups are regarded as communities where social knowledge is constructed that makes intersubjective understanding of illness experiences possible. In order to investigate such knowledge as a resource in joint construction of meaning, a theoretical model is introduced where a distinction is made between a discursive level of situated ‘representational work’ and an underlying level of sociocultural resources. A focus group study was carried out with 27 participants who label their health problems as anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder, and were members of service user organizations. The focus group conversations were analysed with regard to thematic, interactional and discursive features to answer the questions: 1) how is mental illness represented, 2) how is the mentally ill person represented, and 3) how are others’ views on mental illness represented. The results show how mental illness is represented as a complex phenomenon that is contextualised to a number of frames of reference. Further, the analysis identified different types of resources that are utilized in representational work: local knowledge of the communities, medical concepts, different explanatory models, narrative structures, metaphors and conceptual dichotomies. It also revealed dialogical properties of the representational work that have rhetorical functions for self-presentation as a team performance. The discussion suggests that widely shared resources are put to use in group- and situation-specific representational projects, and that representations that are produced in group discourse can be characterised as ‘polemical social representations’ that respond to a double stigma of mental illness in everyday life where mental illness is regarded as a sign of ‘weakness’ as well as ‘otherness’.
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Patterson-Hyatt, Kimberly. "Distress Among Psychologists: Prevalence, Barriers,and Remedies for Accessing Mental Health Care." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1473186387.
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Salas, Leslie. "Mirrors and Vanities." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5697.
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Mirrors and Vanities is a multi-modal collection which showcases the diversity of working in long and short storytelling forms. Featured in this thesis are fiction, nonfiction, graphic narrative, and screenplay. Using unconventional approaches to storytelling in order to achieve emotional resonance with the audience while maintaining high standards for craft, these stories and essays explore the costs inherent to the subtle nuances of interpersonal relationships. The fiction focuses on the complications of characters keeping secrets. A husband discovers the truth behind his wife's miscarriage. A girl visits her fiance in purgatory. A boy crosses a line and loses his best friend. Meanwhile, the nonfiction centers on self-discovery and gender roles associated with power struggles. A schizophrenic threatens to ruin my mother's wedding. I rediscover my relationship with my father through food writing. Sword-work teaches me to fail and succeed at making martial art. The title work of the thesis is a collaged story highlighting the tribulations of a physicist fixated on recovering his lost love by manipulating the multiverse. The multi-modal format implicates the nebulosity of physics theories and how different aspects of the narrative can be presented in various formats to best suit the nature of the storytelling. Through the interactions of characters in mundane and extraordinary circumstances, the works in this thesis examine the consequences of choice, the contrast between reality and expectation, coming of age, and the Truth of narrative.M.F.A.
Masters
English
Arts and Humanities
Creative Writing
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Anderson, Crystal Lee. "The Coagulate, and, 'Not simply a case' : Frank Bidart's post-confessional framing of mental illness, typography, the dramatic monologue and feint in 'Herbert White' and 'Ellen West'." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2016. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-coagulateandnot-simply-a-case-frank-bidarts-postconfessional-framing-of-mental-illness-typography-the-dramatic-monologue-and-feint-in-herbert-white-and-ellen-west(2408f29d-e56f-46fe-8301-0f10a463f901).html.
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This doctoral thesis involves two components, a book length collection of poems and a critical study of ‘Herbert White’ and ‘Ellen West’ by Frank Bidart. The collection of poems, The Coagulate, consists of four parts: 1) Semi-personal poems focusing on nature both in a general sense and in specific reference to the natural British landscape. 2) Poems that explore the nature-based myths and contemporary social idiosyncrasies of Japan.3) Poems that explore the social perception of mental illness and the individual voices that exist in spite psychological classification.4) Poems by an alter-ego and pseudonym named Lee Cole, a completely foreign perspective to my own. These poems were written with the intent to adhere to Frank Bidart’s concept of Herbert White as ‘all that I was not.’ However, unlike Bidart, these poems attempt to remove the presence of the poet and forgo the use of a feint. The collection is organised with contexture in mind rather than chronology. Poems build upon one another and one section flows into the next causing the book to have a fluid quality. The critical component examines Bidart’s treatment of two mentally ill characters in respect to the establishment of the form, style, and voice that would become a hallmark of his poetry. Chapter 1 looks at the first poem of Bidart’s first book, ‘Herbert White.’ This chapter examines how Bidart’s unique use of typography, voice, Freudian theory, and the sharing of the poet’s history contributed to the crafting of a mentally ill character and the contexture of Golden State. It suggests that the inclusion of the poet, a stable presence in comparison to White, allows the reader to recognise certain universal human personality traits in a character that seems inhuman. Chapter 2 examines how Bidart crafted ‘Ellen West,’ a character just as unlike Bidart as ‘Herbert White.’ Central to this analysis is the examination of how to construct a character struggling with identity. It also examines the use of dramatic monologues and how ‘Ellen West’ fits into a form with a flexible definition. As with Chapter 1, Chapter 2 examines how Bidart uses the poet’s self to add to a fictional narrative and how that reflects upon his personal poetry, indicating that Bidart’s use of the self is a redirection from how the Confessional poets used first-person.
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Larsson, Birgitta. "Att träna sig i att vara människa : En kvalitativ studie om personalens upplevelse av dialektisk beteendeterapi och den terapeutiska alliansen." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för samhälls- och välfärdsstudier, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-86015.
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Background People with psychiatric problems, despite efforts in recent decades still experience vulnerability. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), where self-harm is common, often live in difficult and complex social relationships because of their illness. Additional knowledge and studies about mental illness, self-harm, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and the therapeutic alliance are needed. Purpose and Method This study aims to examine how staff perceive and describe: DBT as a treatment method; the therapeutic alliance and the importance it has for treatment. The study utilises a qualitative approach with a qualitative content analysis method and presents earlier research on DBT and the therapeutic alliance. The empirical material consists of focus group interviews comprising three DBT - teams. The theoretical framework is based on attachment theory which addresses the dynamics of close relationships and how we act in them. Results Results show that DBT - teams describe patients with self-harm as vulnerable. Here, self-harm represents a way to reduce aggression and make life bearable. DBT is produced as a collaboration between therapist and patient, giving patients the opportunity for a new secure attachment to achieve self-respect and a meaningful life. The teams assess DBT as successful and effective. The therapeutic alliance is seen as an emotional and social interaction and is considered the most important tool in the treatment. Conclusions Patients who self-harm and have emotional difficulties may indicate insecure and lack of attachments. Through DBT, trust and confidence are trained and developed to enhance attachment patterns and move the process forward. New aspects emerge such as the significant role of relatives and the team and the importance of feeling hope in both the patient and the therapist. Furthermore, the health professional’s knowledge of the BPD diagnosis affects the care and the treatment of the patients and thus the patients’ possibility to live better lives. In a broader discussion of health determinants, health care, early intervention, cooperation and long-term measures are assessed to be important factors for promoting health and good living conditions for the patients.
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Haak, Sarah. "Great Wounds: A Collection of Essays and Prose." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554996583436946.
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Treadway, Mona. "Young Adults in Transition: Factors that Support and Hinder Growth and Change." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1486639727837041.
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Hart, M. J. Alexandra. "Action in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: an Enactive Psycho-phenomenological and Semiotic Analysis of Thirty New Zealand Women's Experiences of Suffering and Recovery." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Social and Political Sciences, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5294.
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This research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) presents the results of 60 first-person psycho-phenomenological interviews with 30 New Zealand women. The participants were recruited from the Canterbury and Wellington regions, 10 had recovered. Taking a non-dual, non-reductive embodied approach, the phenomenological data was analysed semiotically, using a graph-theoretical cluster analysis to elucidate the large number of resulting categories, and interpreted through the enactive approach to cognitive science.
The initial result of the analysis is a comprehensive exploration of the experience of CFS which develops subject-specific categories of experience and explores the relation of the illness to universal categories of experience, including self, ‘energy’, action, and being-able-to-do.
Transformations of the self surrounding being-able-to-do and not-being-able-to-do were shown to elucidate the illness process.
It is proposed that the concept ‘energy’ in the participants’ discourse is equivalent to the Mahayana Buddhist concept of ‘contact’. This characterises CFS as a breakdown of contact. Narrative content from the recovered interviewees reflects a reestablishment of contact.
The hypothesis that CFS is a disorder of action is investigated in detail.
A general model for the phenomenology and functional architecture of action is proposed. This model is a recursive loop involving felt meaning, contact, action, and perception and appears to be phenomenologically supported.
It is proposed that the CFS illness process is a dynamical decompensation of the subject’s action loop caused by a breakdown in the process of contact.
On this basis, a new interpretation of neurological findings in relation to CFS becomes possible. A neurological phenomenon that correlates with the illness and involves a brain region that has a similar structure to the action model’s recursive loop is identified in previous research results and compared with the action model and the results of this research. This correspondence may identify the brain regions involved in the illness process, which may provide an objective diagnostic test for the condition and approaches to treatment.
The implications of this model for cognitive science and CFS should be investigated through neurophenomenological research since the model stands to shed considerable light on the nature of consciousness, contact and agency.
Phenomenologically based treatments are proposed, along with suggestions for future research on CFS. The research may clarify the diagnostic criteria for CFS and guide management and treatment programmes, particularly multidimensional and interdisciplinary approaches.
Category theory is proposed as a foundation for a mathematisation of phenomenology.
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"Improving Transitional Care for Individuals with Severe Mental Illness: The Role of Narrative Repair." Doctoral diss., 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.62829.
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abstract: Traditional healthcare narratives have set the stage for the care of the population with Severe Mental Illness (P-SMI). Thus far, two prevailing health strategies anchor services for mental illnesses, acute psychiatric care, and mental health, psychosocial rehabilitation. Between these, care transitions mediate PSMI’s needs and their movements from the hospital to the community and home. However, as individuals with Severe Mental Illness (i-SMI’s) leave the hospital, time is short with little opportunity to make known authentic narratives born out of self-evidence. After transitional care, maintenance treatment re-centers these individuals back into a playbook with operatives of pathology and disability and inconsistencies with the narratives on recovery and rehabilitation.
This project sought to hear i-SMI’s stories and propose how their experience can be used to create a new “counter” story of transition that empowers these individuals through a better understanding of their “space”: conceptualized here, as all that surrounds them and is dynamic and responsive to their interactions and needs. Underpinning this inquiry is a post-modernist conversation that converges on the critical perspectives in the theory of architecture, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and the aesthetic practice of psychiatric nursing in the context of transitional care. A qualitative paradigm of narrative repair guides an ethical appraisal, “deprivation of opportunity,” and “infiltrated consciousness,” regarding relational power dynamics that are at work in healthcare master narratives.
Narrative findings of this study reveal that identity and agency come together in a personal space of safety born out of a core sense of self, belonging, and control. Space emerges within the self-narrative as physical sensibilities in the constructs of agency and safety, and as with emotional responses, metaphor and meaning can repair personal transitions.
The counterstory derived from the narrative findings reveals: Equitable relational dynamics attune social space, the physical environment, and meaning, as a response to the dismissiveness and overcontrolling health professional power. Thus, the journey toward narrative repair from the perspective of i-SMI’s uncovers a deeper counternarrative, Ecosystem of Space: the manifestation of a personal architecture for healing, making a systematic organic-space-experience for the core sense of self to transition and flourish.Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Nursing and Healthcare Innovation 2020
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Pelletier, Shawn. "It's time to talk: a study of the experiences of people with mental health in the workplace." 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/31864.
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In Canada mental health related concerns are estimated to cost the economy $20-$50 billion annually. 500,000 Canadian each week have to take time off of work because of a mental health disability. This study explores the experiences of people living with a mental health disability in the workplace. The goal is to provide an opportunity to highlight many of the obstacles they face every day. This study relies on qualitative methodologies, using semi-structured interviews to get a more detailed understanding of their experiences. This study not only highlights the perceptions, experience and challenges of people living with a mental health disability, it highlights coping strategies and suggestions for building mentally health workplaces. The participant’s personal narratives can help by providing a chance for a community to build and be used to challenge the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health.October 2016
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Kuo, Fen-Ju, and 郭芬如. "Narratives of Family Caregivers of People with Mental Illness." Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81641542480104376569.
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碩士國立臺灣師範大學
社會工作學研究所
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Due to realted studies usually focus on caregivers’ difficulties， needs and adaptation，and “care”is not only responsibilities， pressure， emotional adjusting， living assistance and burden through literature review， but also essentially includes the connection and relationship between families and people with mental illness.The researcher intends to understand the profound caring experience of families of people with mental illness inorder to return the power of interpretation to the caregiving families.This research uses in-depth interview and field observation to collect caring experiences of ten family caregivers of people with mental illness. Through their stories of caring experiences， the researcher has presented family caregivers’ experiences through three dimensions. First is through the interacting stories between families and people with mental illness to reveal diverse caring qualities within different caring situations. Second is through the mutual encountering stories of these caregiving families to externalize caregiving families of people with mental illness as a unique community. Third is through the researcher’s reflections about her interaction and interpreting process to present the researcher’s multiple selves. By doing these， the researcher wish to depict an alternative understanding of careand， therefore， has illuminated the voices of family caregiver through this mutual constructive story.
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Honey, Anne. "Mental Health and Employment: Personal perspectives." 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1942.
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Doctor of Philosophy(PhD)Policy makers, service agencies and people with mental illness themselves view employment for people with mental illness as a major concern. This is due to the low rate of employment of people with mental illness, the difficulties many experience in finding and keeping satisfactory jobs, and the perception of paid employment as highly desirable for people with mental illness. The most extensive research on employment for people with mental illness has focused on establishing statistical relationships between various hypothesised predictors of employment success and vocational outcomes. While some attention has been paid to how individuals with mental illness view being employed, this has primarily focused on specific areas such as the benefits of employment, difficulties encountered and coping techniques used. My aim in this research was to develop a theoretical formulation which explains the processes that people with mental illness engage in with regard to employment. Data was gathered by way of in-depth interviews with users of psychiatric services. Some of these participants were employed, others were seeking employment, while others were not engaged in employment-related activities. At the centre of the theoretical formulation is a process I have called negotiating an appropriate vocational place. Using this process, people with mental illness make decisions about actions to take in relation to employment and these may or may not include trying to get and keep a job. Decisions are made by weighing up the benefits and drawbacks of employment and the advantages and risks of different vocational strategies. In doing so, people with mental illness are influenced by the Australian societal context, their individual social networks, their individual characteristics and circumstances (including their mental illness), and their employment options. This process of negotiating an appropriate vocational place is cyclical, ongoing and dynamic, as individuals' views and circumstances change. Knowing that people with mental illness strive toward an appropriate vocational place rather than taking for granted that they are working towards getting a job presents a challenge to policy and practice in which a successful outcome is defined as obtaining and maintaining a paid position in the workforce. Detailing and elaborating the process by which people with mental illness go about negotiating an appropriate vocational place provides a framework for practitioners, policy makers and researchers to understand the decisions made by people with mental illness and their actions in relation to employment. The understanding provided by the findings from this study will assist those working with people with mental illness and those responsible for employment policies to tailor their work more closely to individuals' desired goals. Immediate and longer term research opportunities are identified to apply the theoretical formulation derived from this study to vocational service practice with people with mental illness.
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Bone, Tracey Anne. "Coping with mental illness: using case study research to explore Deaf depression narratives." 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/23217.
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Optimal health is best achieved through direct access to effective holistic and relevant health prevention strategies, timely and accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and follow-up (K. Woodcock & Pole, 2007). Effective two-way communication is an essential component in all of these stages. It increases the opportunity for a thorough assessment, and thereby contributes to an intervention plan that is appropriate, timely, and suitable to that particular consumer. This study explored how a group of Deaf adults, for whom ASL is their primary language, and all of whom have been diagnosed with depression, managed their symptoms of depression in a health care system that privileges hearing and speaking as the primary mode of communication. A case study methodology with individual, in-depth interviews, and the completion of a hand-drawn person and environment map were used. The participants shared the nature and depth of the barriers that exist and that intersect to prevent their equal access to quality mental health assessment, intervention, and follow-up otherwise available to their hearing counterparts. Faced with these intersecting barriers, negative attitudes from some in the dominant society, and the fear of discrimination from their own collectivist community, participants saw few formal options for managing their symptoms of depression. In most cases participants turned to a strategies of an intrapersonal nature. Some engaged in positive activities such as reading self-help books, volunteering within the Deaf community, walking, and, for two, accessing traditional counseling services. More frequently, however, participants were forced to engage in maladaptive activities such as isolating themselves in an attempt to avoid detection of their symptoms. Some distracted from their feelings of isolation and discrimination through exercise, though others used alcohol or over-eating as their strategy. A number of changes or enhancements were recommended by the participants, including creation of a comprehensive Deaf Awareness Training plan for professionals and the associated staff, an increase in the number and availability of ASL/English interpreters, and the creation of Deaf sensitive health promotional and prevention materials in modes easily accessible to Deaf visual language users. The study concludes by exploring implications for policy, practice, and future research.
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Bhattacharya, Anindita. "Women's Narratives on Illness and Institutionalization in India: A Feminist Inquiry." Thesis, 2019. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-f7rs-3p58.
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In India, various underlying gender related structural factors (i.e., interpersonal violence, lack of social supports, limited opportunities, poverty, and gender biases in mental health practice) serve to keep women living with serious mental illness isolated in psychiatric institutions. Despite this, narratives of women living with serious mental illness and their experiences within institutions have received limited visibility in research. The present study addresses this crucial gap by documenting the lives of women who are former inpatients of a mental hospital and are currently residing at a halfway home in India. I adopted a social constructivist narrative approach to incorporate women’s experiences and examine the context and ways in which their experiences were shaped and situated.
Specifically, the study explored the following questions.
1. How do women describe their experiences and perceptions related to the illness and living at a psychiatric institution (i.e., mental hospital and the halfway home)?
2. What are the physical and social characteristics of the halfway home serving women living with serious mental illness in India?
I answered the first question using narrative data, collected through 34 in-depth interviews with 11 women residents at the halfway home, I examined the second question using field notes that included everyday observations and interactions with women residents, staff members, and interviews with the Director, the Psychologist, the Social Worker, and the Head Housemother at the halfway home. Thereafter, using the theories of self-in-relation (Miller, 1976; Surrey, 1985), institutionalization (Goffman, 1961), and intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1990), I dissect the two research questions further to analyse how women’s experiences and perceptions related to illness and institutionalization are shaped by their gender and social positioning. Using a gender lens, I also critically examine the psychosocial rehabilitation program at the halfway home and ways in which it supports women living with serious mental illness. I used Fraser (2004) guidelines to analyse the narrative data and Emerson, Fretz & Shaw (1995) guidelines to analyse field notes.
Women’s narratives highlight that gender and social positioning significantly shape their experiences of living with mental illness in India. Women perceived their discriminatory social context, particularly restrictive gender norms, a lifetime of denied opportunities, loss of relationships, and violence both in the natal and marital family as factors that contributed and/or exacerbated their illness experiences. Women’s narratives of institutionalization were also embedded in discriminatory social contexts. Poverty and gender disadvantage were the primary reasons for women’s admission to mental hospitals. Furthermore, the shift in care from institutions like mental hospitals to less restrictive institutions like the halfway home did not necessarily improve the lives of women living with serious mental illness. Women share several gender-specific barriers to leaving the halfway home. Furthermore, psychiatric institutions often mirrored patriarchal social relations by perpetuating illness and gender related biases in the delivery of care.
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(9706322), Olivia Joy Schumacher. "HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND PERSONAL NARRATIVES ON MENTAL HEALTH: HOW THE PERCEPTION OF STIGMA AFFECTS THE LIKELIHOOD TO SEEK HELP." Thesis, 2020.
Find full textAbstract:
Mental illness historically has had a stigma surrounding it. For years that was my understanding of mental illness as well. To be able to see mental illness and its treatments in a healthy way, I had to suffer a radical change to my life. The beginning of this paper is my story as to how I came to understand mental illness in a different light. Following that, Ch. 2 explores a brief history of mental illness and how it has been treated in society. Next, it delves into the current social narrative about mental health and what the entertainment industry is doing to either help or hurt the de-stigmatization. Lastly, the personal narrative is analyzed. The story an individual tells themselves is influenced by many different elements.
This is something on which more research needs to be done. Individual’s perceptions about mental health impact their likelihood to seek help. To explore this, I surveyed 379 people to address their personal beliefs of mental illness. To analyze the data, I split the respondents into groups of those diagnosed and those that have not been diagnosed. Of the four hypotheses, only one group was supported. After that, I ran a post hoc analysis looking at perceived societal views and that came out much stronger. Additional research needs to be done on perceived societal views and how that impacts an individual’s decision to express concerns or seek help for mental illness.
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Botelho, Vera Lúcia de Jesus. "Impacto do plano individual de recovery no enriquecimento pessoal das pessoas com experiência de doença mental." Master's thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/4710.
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Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no Instituto Superior
de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de
grau de Mestre na especialidade de
Psicologia ClínicaA mudança na visão sobre as pessoas com experiência de doença mental que, com o decorrer dos anos passaram a ser vistas também como pessoas dotadas de potencialidades para além da problemática, trouxe aos serviços de saúde mental novos desafios, sobre a forma como poderiam ajudar estas pessoas alcançar o seu recovery. Uma das formas, foi adoptando novas práticas que ajudassem as pessoas a ganhar um conhecimento mais ampliado sobre si e sobre as suas potencialidades, como é o caso do Plano de Recovery que, para além de ajudar as pessoas a identificar as suas competências nas diferentes áreas da sua vida, ainda auxilia a definir objectivos para o futuro, tornando-se assim, mais confiantes nas suas escolhas para a sua vida e consequentemente, mais autónomas em relação aos outros, o que provoca um crescimento a nível pessoal.
The change in vision on people with experience of mental illness that, over the years came to be seen also as persons endowed with potential beyond the issue, brought to mental health services new challenges on, how they might help these people achieve their recovery. One of the ways, it was adopting new practices that help people to gain a more expanded knowledge about themselves and about their potential, such as the Recovery Plan that, as well help people identify their skills in different areas of his life, still helps define goals for the future, thus becoming more confident in their choices for their life and consequently more autonomous in relation to others, causing a growth on a personal level.