Return to search

Narrative, ethics and severe mental illness.

No / Starting from the premise that people are essentially narrative beings, I argue that the onset of severe mental illness compromises the narrative enterprise of being able to construct one's Self and one's relationships inmeaningful and coherent ways. This is due to both the curtailment of opportunities for narrative engagement and the dispossession of those whose narratives do not conform to the current conceptualization of narrative and narrativity. In these circumstances, supporting the narrative enterprise is an ethical endeavour that requires that we examine not only which narratives we construct, but also how we construct them. This requires a re-thinking of what might constitute narrative and how we might facilitate or enhance the narrativity of people with severe mental illness. Following this, I suggest four means to support the narrativity of people with severe mental illness: through maintaining narrative continuity, maintaining narrative agency, countering master narratives and attention to small stories.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/3268
Date January 2005
CreatorsBaldwin, P. Clive
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, not applicable paper

Page generated in 0.0025 seconds