Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Department of Linguistics, 2006. / Bibliography: p. 319-326. / Introduction: the complex tale of self in psychotherapy -- Literature review -- Introduction to the corpora and general linguistic analysis -- Introduction to the lexicogrammatical analysis of scripts, chronicles and narratives -- Chronicles: this is my normality: the complex tale of the everyday -- Scripts: I am not normal: the complex tale of alienation -- Narratives: this is how I would like normal to be: the complex tale of normality as imagination and memory -- A complex tale of normality: lexicogrammatical features across scripts, chronicles and narratives -- The contexts of psychotherapy -- Generic structure -- A complex tale of self. / This thesis investigates the complex tales of self which emerge from conversations between psychotherapists and patients with borderline personality disorder. These patients struggle in establishing a border between themselves and significant others, which is itself fundamental to a deeper construal of their own existence. They are being treated within the Conversational Model of psychotherapy. The model is strongly oriented to techniques based on language and linguistic evidence and thus offers a linguistic site at which the study of the complex interaction of self and language can be made tractable.--Within a broad corpus of transcribed audio recordings of patient-therapist discourse, the principal focus of my linguistic study is the Conversational Model's claims about three conversational types-Scripts, Chronicles and Narratives. According to Meares, they present 'self as shifting state in the therapeutic conversation' (1998:876). The thesis investigates a selection of texts to represent these three conversational types, which I have chosen according to the claims in the Conversational Model literature. It tests the evidence of Meares' claims concerning the semantic characteristics which distinguish the three conversational types, as well as the linguistic evidence concerning the claims of change in the self in particular the presentation of 'self as shifting state' (1998:876). To achieve the levels of complexity required for this linguistic study of self, this thesis uses Systemic Functional Linguistics, which has a social, interactional orientation and a multidimensional and in particular, multistratal approach. The research demonstrates that therapeutically relevant aspects of the self can be productively described, across linguistic strata, in a consistent and reproducible way as a construction of meaning. The meanings which speakers offer in wordings can provide a reliable index for evaluating the emergence and maintenance of self. The Conversational Model's 'conversations' are confirmed as linguistically distinguishable text types and the research further shows that key terms of the Conversational Model can be defended theoretically on the basis of linguistic evidence, for example, the contrastive linearlnon-linear. Together the findings describe the complexity in the tale of self.--This investigation of the Conversational Model data also tests the claims of a functional linguistics at the same time that it evaluates the Conversational Model with respect to that model's consistent appeals to language as evidence. It establishes an opportunity to extend the dialogue between linguists and practitioners of the Conversational Model: the tools of the one group increase the reflective capabilities of the other. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xx, 385 p. ill

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology) / Overgeneral autobiographical memory is thought to be a clinically meaningful phenomenon which is related to affect regulation, problem solving ability, and treatment outcome in clinical populations (see J. M. G. Williams et al., 2007, for review). Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are thought to be particularly prone to developing an overgeneral style of memory due to their temperamental difficulties in controlling affect (J. M. G. Williams, 1996). However, research in this population has so far yielded inconsistent findings. In a series of three studies, this thesis addresses the question whether overgeneral memory is associated with BPD, as well as exploring the relationship between memory specificity, affect regulation, problem solving ability, and response to treatment in this population. Findings indicate that individuals with BPD display reduced autobiographical specificity relative to controls, however, this appears to be a reflection of differences in cognitive ability as IQ and education mediated the association between specificity and diagnosis. Reduced specificity was not associated with Borderline traits in a non-clinical sample. Results failed to confirm the hypothesis that autobiographical memory specificity would be related to affect regulation in individuals with BPD, although there was some indication that memory specificity is associated with reduced rates of deliberate self-harm. Specificity was related to problem solving performance in individuals with BPD, although this relationship did not extend to self-reported problem solving ability. Memory specificity also appeared to change significantly over the course of treatment in a year-long Dialectical Behavior Therapy program, however, there was little indication that change in memory specificity was associated with the observed improvement in symptomatology, affect regulation or problem solving ability. Lastly, an experimental study with university students found no relationship between memory specificity and affect dysregulation, although low specific students reported greater reductions in positive affect following a negative event than individuals with a specific style of autobiographical recall. The assimilation model is considered as a framework for conceptualising these results.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed November 7, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska inst.itutet, 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2006. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-65).

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2004. / Vita. Bibliography: 73-77.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Justin Schwartz, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 24, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.