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Chapter 1 - Introducing the Book

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2023

Dorthe Kirkegaard Thomsen ,
Tine Holm ,
Rikke Jensen ,
Majse Lind  and
Anne Mai Pedersen
Dorthe Kirkegaard Thomsen
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Tine Holm
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Rikke Jensen
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Majse Lind
Affiliation:
Aalborg University, Denmark
Anne Mai Pedersen
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
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Summary

In this first chapter, we present two main questions that we seek to answer by analyzing life stories from 118 individuals with severe mental illness: 1) What do life stories reveal about subjective consequences of suffering from mental illness and 2) What do life stories reveal about experiences bringing well-being when living with mental illness? We show how these questions touch upon themes in well-known autobiographies of authors with mental illness. Further, we discuss how answering these questions supplements diathesis-stress models by focusing on identity salient consequences rather than causes of mental illness, and on narrative identity as a source of well-being rather than symptom remission. We argue for the importance of life stories in fully comprehending the subjective side of mental illness. Finally, we provide a roadmap for the remaining chapters in the book.

Keywords

Mental illnesswell-beingpersonal recoveryfirst-person perspectivenarrative identity
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Storying Mental Illness and Personal Recovery , pp. 1 - 14
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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