In this dissertation the author embarks on a journey of storying and re-storying her life. Autoethnographic evocative personal narratives are used as the method of presentation. Congruent with a postmodern stance, the text repositions the reader as a co-participant in dialogue. In this journey there is a move from a reductionistic understanding of "self" to an understanding of "self" as socially constructed, multiple and changing processes. The author's process of differentiation is embodied and informed by this changing view of "self" as part of, being informed by, shaping and being shaped by the conversations she co-creates in dialogical contexts. This means taking a double-sided, reflexive view of relationships and systems, opens a space for a flexible way of being and imparts sensitivity to the discourses she co-creates. This journey entails taking action that keeps a self-reflexive dialogue going, allowing for different voices to emerge and various encounters to become possible. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This study explores online dating by studying the relationship between self-disclosure and self-efficacy in an online dating environment. This research study examines the way self-disclosure, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and gender interrelate in an online dating environment. This study includes, but is not limited to, discussion of the type of correlation between self-efficacy and self-esteem, the relationship between self-disclosure and self-efficacy, and the differences between men's and women's self-disclosure in an online dating environment. From conducting this study, the researcher was able to determine that there is a statistically significant relationship between gender and how it relates to self-disclosure and self-efficacy. With the results from the study, the understanding of how different variables relate to online dating and romantic relationships has been taken one step further as it helps fill the gap in the literature.

As a social species, human beings are driven by an innate desire to belong and are thus motivated to develop and maintain meaningful social relationships. As such, perceiving a lack of belongingness strongly impacts psychological and physiological health and well-being. A common form of perceived relationship deficits is loneliness, a negative-affective experience detrimental to health and well-being over time. Through a series of three manuscripts, this dissertation applies the full-cycle model of social psychological research to explore various affective, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of loneliness. Whereas existing models of loneliness focus on long-lasting or chronic forms of loneliness, these studies investigate chronic and transient loneliness, as well as processes through which transient loneliness may develop into more chronic levels. The first paper demonstrates that solitary consumption is a unique behavioral response to transient loneliness, which may exacerbate the experience of loneliness and negatively impact health over time. The second paper provides support for a positivity-deficit perspective, demonstrating that chronic loneliness is related to less disclosure of recent positive experiences, a deficit which may be consequential for the development of close relationships. The third paper demonstrates the role of transient loneliness in inhibiting individuals and their interaction partners from reaping the social rewards of positive-event disclosure, particularly among those who typically feel socially connected. Taken together, these studies expand the current understanding transient loneliness, revealing various social-cognitive and behavioral consequences which could impede the social-reaffiliation process, and thus contribute to the maintenance of loneliness over time.

Bakgrund: Öppenhet om psykisk ohälsa är något som har fått allt mer medial uppmärksamhet. Konceptet öppenhet är brett och innefattar flertal definitioner såsom transparens, som i att vara ärlig och inte gömma information, samt ett förhållningssätt som präglas av bland annat tolerans och förmågan att acceptera nya perspektiv och idéer. Öppenhet avhandlas i denna studie från perspektivet av sjuksköterskor med egen erfarenhet av psykisk ohälsa. Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att utforska sjuksköterskors upplevelser och erfarenheter av öppenhet gällande psykisk ohälsa samt att avtäcka öppenhetens meningsbärande enheter utifrån ett omvårdnadsperspektiv. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ studiedesign med en fenomenologisk hermeneutisk forskningsansats. Information samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i 3 övergripande teman: öppenhet som transparens, öppenhet som förhållningssätt och öppenhetens kraft och fundamentala växelverkan. Helhetstolkningen  visade att öppenhet är en förutsättning för all typ av medmänsklig interaktion och kommunikation. Att dela med sig av erfarenheter av psykisk ohälsa är transparens med intentionalitet kopplat till både strävan efter en bättre värld och ett sätt att visa omsorg. Helhetstolkningen mynnade ut i att sjuksköterskors öppenhet gällande egen erfarenhet av psykisk ohälsa i hög grad påverkades av upplevd stigma. Slutsats: Öppenhet har en inre självförstärkande kraft: öppenhet leder till öppenhet. Att dela med sig av egna erfarenheter av psykisk ohälsa ter sig har en stor potential i att skapa relationer präglade av ömsesidighet och medmänsklighet. Att bemöta med öppenhet är nyckeln till att ge transparensen en möjlighet att skapa en mer humanistisk och rättvis vård. / Background: Openness around mental health issues has gained increased media attention. The concept of openness is vast and includes multiple definition like transparency, as in to be honest and not hiding information, and also an approach characterized by, among others, tolerance and the ability to accept new perspectives and ideas. In this study openness is presented from the perspective of nurses with own experience of mental health issues. Aim: This study aims to explore nurses’ experiences and knowledge of openness regarding mental health issues and also uncover the meaning entities within the concept of openness from a nursing perspective. Method: The study uses a phenomenological hermeneutical method. Information was gained through semi-structured interviews. Findings: The analysis resulted in 3 main themes: openness as transparency, openness as an approach and the power and fundamental interactions of openness. The comprehensive understanding exposed openness as a postulate to all human interaction and communication. To share own experiences of mental health issues is transparency with intentionality including striving for a better world and mediate caring. The comprehensive understanding also indicated that nurses’ openness in sharing own experiences of mental health issues was impacted negatively by stigma experiences. Conclusion: Openness has an inner amplifying power: openness leads to openness. To share experiences regarding mental health issues appears to possess a great potential in creating relationships characterized by mutuality and compassion. To approach with openness is the key to give transparency the ability to create a more humane and just health care.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa intervjustudie är att studera gruppterapeutiska upplevelser från biblioterapi. Med en socialpsykologisk ansats studeras detta genom teorier om gruppkohesion, feedback och självutlämnande. 5 semistrukturerade intervjuer med deltagare som någon gång under de senaste tio åren har deltagit i biblioterapi genomfördes. Resultat visar bland annat att slutsatser om att biblioterapi som ett gruppterapeutiskt tillvägagångsätt med ovan nämnda teorier, visar sig vara en positiv terapimetod bland de deltagande som bland annat sökt sig till terapin för psykisk ohälsa. Resultat i denna studie visar även biblioterapi som en terapeutisk metod, verkar inunder en miljö, som redan i början av terapin får deltagarna att känna en god samhörighet med andra deltagare. / The purpose of this qualitative interview study is to study group therapy experiences from bibliotherapy. With a social psychological approach, this is studied through theories of group cohesion, feedback and self-disclosure. 5 semi-structured interviews with participants who have participated in bibliotherapy at some point in the last ten years were conducted. The results show amongst many conclusions that bibliotherapy, as a group therapeutic approach with the above-mentioned theories, proves to be a positive method of therapy among the participants who, among other things, applied to the therapy for mental illness. Results in this study also show bibliotherapy as a therapeutic method, acting in an environment that already at the beginning of the therapy makes the participants feel a good connection with other participants.

This study examines the relationship between online self-disclosure, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, Facebook use and frequency of status updates in existing self-report measures among 381 college students. Positive correlations were found between: vulnerable narcissism and Facebook status updates, and Facebook use and online self-disclosure. Following the equalization of the two different narcissism scales, college students scored higher on grandiose narcissism as opposed to vulnerable narcissism, the opposite to what was hypothesized. No correlations were found between: grandiose narcissism and Facebook status updates; grandiose narcissism and self-disclosure; and vulnerable narcissism and self-disclosure. Additionally, college women did not score higher in self-disclosure than men on Facebook. Through additional testing a correlation between vulnerable narcissism and Facebook use was also found. Results were negatively affected by the established grandiose narcissism scale failing reliability testing, thus, in the future, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) should be used. High religiosity is also known to positively correlate to positive mental health, therefore, in the future using less religiously orientated college students might yield different narcissism level results.

The primary purpose of the present study was to determine if information regarding potential parental or legal guardian access to mental health information would deleteriously impact male and female adolescent psychiatric patients' willingness to self-report personal problems and symptoms.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of spoken self-disclosure scripts on nonaphasic listeners’ perceptions of people with aphasia (PWA). Self-disclosure is a tool that PWA can utilize in the event that they want a conversation partner to know of their communication disorder. However, limited research has been conducted on the effects of aphasia self-disclosure or whether it affects perceptions of PWA from neurotypical communication partners. If self-disclosure is determined to make a positive impact on a communicative interaction, it could be grounds for encouraging PWA who are interested to develop a self-disclosure script or use an aphasia identification card. Methods: 239 middle-aged adults participated in this study, which was a remote survey conducted on Qualtrics via Prolific. Aphasia self-disclosure scripts from two speakers (one female and one male), as well as neutral scripts from the same two speakers, were used as stimuli. After hearing either the self-disclosure or the neutral script, participants were asked to rate various speaker attributes (i.e., intelligence, confidence, friendliness, and kindness), as well as their own experience (i.e., engagement, patience, comfort, and ease of listening) while listening to the speaker. Results: Overall, the listeners who heard the aphasia self-disclosure scripts rated the speakers’ attributes more highly than the listeners who heard the script containing neutral information. In addition, those in the self-disclosure listening group rated their listening experience more highly than the group of participants who received the neutral information. The aphasia self-disclosure script appeared to have a larger effect on perceptions of the male speaker as compared to the female speaker. Conclusion: Nonaphasic listeners’ attitudes about PWA, as well as their listening experience, improve when spoken self-disclosure is involved in communication. Future research should examine the impact of self-disclosure on remote and in-person interactions between neurotypical individuals and PWA, as well as investigate the effectiveness of implementing virtual Communication Partner Training (CPT) programs.

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