scholarly journals The suspended self: Liminality in breast cancer narratives and implications for counselling

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ifigeneia Koutri ◽  
Evrinomy Avdi
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Illness Experience ◽  
Narrative Psychology ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
Women's Narratives ◽  
Illness Meaning ◽  
Core Features

In the field of chronic and serious illness, meaning-making with regards to the illness experience has been shown to be a core process for patients. This study focuses on women's narratives of their experiences of living with breast cancer. Within the framework of narrative psychology, illness narratives are considered to provide the main means through which patients make sense of their illness experience and construct its place in their life story. In this paper, we present findings from a narrative study that aimed to explore the different meanings that breast cancer holds for Greek women. In the broader study, four basic narrative types about breast cancer emerged from the analysis. In this paper, we focus on one of these narrative types, in which illness is constructed as an entrance into a state of liminality and where the women's sense of self seems to be “suspended”. The core features of this narrative type are described and arguments are developed regarding its usefulness. We argue that this is a narrative type that deserves further attention, particularly as it seems to reflect a socially non-preferred storyline, which might result in these women's stories being sidestepped or silenced. The implications of this narrative type for healthcare and counselling in cancer care are discussed.

Dance/Movement Therapy and Breast Cancer Care

2017 ◽  
pp. 882-902
Author(s):  
Ilene A. Serlin ◽  
Nancy Goldov ◽  
Erika Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Movement Therapy ◽  
Dance Movement Therapy ◽  
Dance Movement ◽  
Supportive Environment ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Life Trajectory

Breast cancer causes the second highest mortality rate for any type of cancer. The illness, treatment, and side-effects can impact a woman’s identity, body image, and ability to function. Medical dance/movement therapy (MDMT) is a holistic therapeutic method uniquely suited to working with women with breast cancer. This chapter describes MDMT as an intervention that, through a safe and supportive environment that encourages creativity, can help develop psycho, social, and spiritual dimensions of women’s lives at a time when their life trajectory has been interrupted. It explores ways in which MDMT can enable women to rebuild their sense of self and their worlds. Arguments are put forward that create new meaning-making systems, confronting existential issues, and experiencing personal transformation through movement which can lead to enhanced wellbeing. A review of relevant literature is included to illustrate some key ideas of this work at individual, group, and ritual/community levels.

“I Will Not Be Defined by This. I’m Not Going to Live Like a Victim; It Is Not Going to Define My Life”: Exploring Breast Cancer Survivors’ Experiences and Sense of Self

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-360
Author(s):  
Elly Rashidi ◽  
Romana Morda ◽  
Wally Karnilowicz
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Survivors ◽  
Breast Cancer Survivors ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Identity Transformation ◽  
Psychological Ownership ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Post Traumatic Growth ◽  
The Impact

A life-threatening disease such as breast cancer with its pervasive nature of uncertainty can lead to feelings of disempowerment. Nonetheless, survivors may reconstruct their identity within optimism and a celebration of a new self. In this qualitative constructionist study, we explored survivors’ experiences, meaning-making, and identity transformation. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 11 women who identified as breast cancer survivors. Participants were aged 35 years old or above and were in post-diagnosis for at least 3 years. Interview data were collected and analyzed using thematic techniques. We identified three master themes: Diseased Self, focused on emotional distress and the presentation of a façade; Coping Self, explored resilience and post-traumatic growth; and Transformed Self, engaged in presentations of self-image, meaning-making, and psychological ownership addressing survivorship and empowerment. The findings may be used to inform guidelines and support for cancer survivors considering the impact of diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment experiences on self-identity.

Adolescence Outside the Restricted Zone: A Narrative Study of Nuclear Disaster Response Trajectories intertwining with Life (TiL)

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110621
Author(s):  
Shira Taube Dayan
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
Potentially Traumatic Events ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Life Story Interviews ◽  
First Time

Responses to trauma can involve complex meaning-making processes and the perception of ambiguous threats. This study sought to explore response trajectories to a nuclear disaster and their intertwining courses with ecological factors (Trajectories intertwining with Life—TiL) from adolescence onward among a non-evacuated population. Four women and four men (mean age 20) who were adolescents during the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima (mean age 14), and who grew up outside the restricted zone participated in the study. Semi-structured life story interviews were conducted in the form of in-depth qualitative inquiries. A holistic analysis was employed to identify the TiL patterns following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in the overall context of the stories and to reveal important themes throughout adolescence. Four TiL patterns were found: three trajectories corresponding with those identified in prior research and one newly identified trajectory. The perceived, distal, and continuous threat of radiation played a central role in all patterns and exerted secondary impacts throughout the lives of non-evacuated adolescents. The study’s implications shed light on rarely studied response trajectories to ambiguous Potentially Traumatic Events (PTEs) throughout adolescence and point out the benefits of using a life story approach to this end for the first time.

Reduced Jumping to Conclusion Bias after Experimentally Induced Enhancement of Subjective Body Boundaries in Psychosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-97
Author(s):  
Naomi Lyons ◽  
Detlef E. Dietrich ◽  
Johannes Graser ◽  
Georg Juckel ◽  
Christian Koßmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Implicit Measure ◽  
Relevant Factor ◽  
The Core ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Explicit Measure ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Core Features

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> A disturbed sense of self is frequently discussed as an etiological factor for delusion symptoms in psychosis. Phenomenological approaches to psychopathology posit that lacking the sense that the self is localized within one’s bodily boundaries (disembodiment) is one of the core features of the disturbed self in psychosis. The present study examines this idea by experimentally manipulating the sense of bodily boundaries. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Seventy-three patients with psychosis were randomly assigned to either a 10-min, guided self-massage in the experimental group (EG) to enhance the sense of bodily boundaries or a control group (CG), which massaged a fabric ring. Effects on an implicit measure (jumping to conclusion bias; JTC) and an explicit measure (Brief State Paranoia Checklist; BSPC) of delusion processes were assessed. The JTC measures the tendency to make a decision with little evidence available, and the BSPC explicitly measures the approval of paranoid beliefs. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Patients in the EG showed a lower JTC (<i>M</i> = 4.11 draws before decision) than the CG (<i>M</i> = 2.43; Cohen’s <i>d</i> = 0.64). No significant difference in the BSPC was observed. <b><i>Discussion/Conclusion:</i></b> Our results indicate that enhancing the sense of body boundaries through a self-massage can reduce an implicit bias associated with delusional ideation and correspondingly support the idea that disembodiment might be a relevant factor in the formation of psychotic symptoms.

scholarly journals The hamster wheel: a case study on embodied narrative identity and overcoming severe obesity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Natvik ◽  
Målfrid Råheim ◽  
Randi Sviland
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Weight Loss Surgery ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
The Body ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Severely Obese ◽  
Eating Practices ◽  
And Control

AbstractBased in narrative phenomenology, this article describes an example of how lived time, self and bodily engagement with the social world intertwine, and how our sense of self develops. We explore this through the life story of a woman who lost weight through surgery in the 1970 s and has fought against her own body, food and eating ever since. Our narrative analysis of interviews, reflective notes and email correspondence disentangled two storylines illuminating paradoxes within this long-term weight loss process. Thea’s Medical Weight Narrative: From Severely Obese Child to Healthy Adult is her story in context of medicine and obesity treatment and expresses success and control. Thea’s Story: The Narrative of Fighting Weight is the experiential story, including concrete examples and quotes, highlighting bodily struggles and the inescapable ambiguity of being and having one’s body. The two storylines coexist and illuminate paradoxes within the weight loss surgery narrative, connected to meaningful life events and experiences, eating practices and relationships with important others. Surgery was experienced as lifesaving, yet the surgical transformation did not suffice, because it did not influence appetite or, desire for food in the long run. In the medical narrative of transforming the body by repair, a problematic relationship with food did not fit into the plot.

Understanding attendees’ transformative experiences following Tony Robbins’s Unleash the Power Within seminars

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 47-59
Author(s):  
Sue Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Personal Development ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
American Life ◽  
Transformative Experiences

Tony Robbins is an American life coach and entrepreneur who claims his motivational workshop, Unleash the Power Within (UPW) can transform people’s lives. This article is based on an interpretative phenomenological analysis of eight participants who had attended different UPW seminars and explored their experiences of transformation. Eight themes were identified: (1) a change in their sense of self, (2) the development of new skills, (3) changes in lifestyle, (4) transformation/conversion, (5) changes in relationships, (6) permanency of change, (7) feelings of fear versus anticipation and (8) loss versus gain. The research concluded that participants had undergone transformation involving significant, valued and enduring changes centred on new meaning in their lives. Further research was suggested to examine both a wider and more in-depth approach, as personal development workshops offer a large and potentially rich field of transpersonal study focused on human meaning-making and change.

Retelling one’s life story—how narratives improve quality of life in chronic language impairment

2018 ◽  
pp. 89-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Corsten ◽  
Friedericke Hardering
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Identity Renegotiation ◽  
Story Work

Recent research in the field of narrative-based medicine has investigated the effectiveness of using illness narratives to stimulate coping processes. This chapter examines the utilization of the narrative approach in treating persons with aphasia—a neurological language disorder—many of whom experience reduced social participation and a change in identity. Although life-story work can support processes of sense-making, only a few studies use a biographic–narrative approach in aphasic patients due to their impaired language abilities. The chapter describes an adapted biographic-narrative intervention developed to assist with identity renegotiation and social participation. In order to show the benefits associated with the intervention and how the participants’ sense of self changed through the approach, the chapter examines a study with 27 aphasic people. It covers how the findings provide foundations for future work using biographic–narrative interventions to influence quality of life and identity renegotiation in people with chronic diseases.

scholarly journals RETIREES’ MEMORIES OF WORK LIFE AND WELL-BEING AFTER RETIREMENT: A QUALITATIVE INQUIRY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S309-S310
Author(s):  
Tina Hahnel ◽  
Sabine Hommelhoff ◽  
Hsiao-Wen Liao
Keyword(s):  
Life Story ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Workplace Relationships ◽  
Work Lives ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Positive Meaning ◽  
Difficult Times

Abstract Reminiscence research has grown immensely in the past 30 years. Yet, research on personal memories of work lives is lacking. This is surprising because work is a crucial aspect of many people’s lives and an important life story chapter (Thomsen, Pillemer, & Ivcevic, 2011). Part of a larger project, the present qualitative study aimed to understand (1) what retirees remember about their work lives and (2) whether and how retirees tie those memories to their current well-being. Six in-depth interviews on lives before and after retirement (4 women and 2 men with different careers, age range 65 to 87 years) were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Findings of a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) revealed that participants reported both big and small stories. They first narrated landmark events (e.g., job loss after the Fall of the German Wall) and continued to recount many little incidents (e.g., a child asking an unretiring teacher if she is now "done with retirement”). Additionally, participants not only reminisced about work itself (i.e., what jobs were like) but equally about workplace relationships (e.g., particularly positive or negative relations with supervisors). Despite difficult times at work, participants reported that they were now at peace with how things went and generally satisfied with their current lives. We discuss how the type (i.e., big or small) and content (i.e., work- or relationship-focused) of retirees’ memories and positive meaning-making (i.e., recounting work lives in a positive light) may contribute to well-being and propose a conceptual model for future research.

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