Narrative Reconstruction And The Recovery Of Mental Illness

Characterized by high recurrence rate, risk of disability and psychosocial burden, bipolar disorder has been regarded as one of the most serious mental illnesses which would strongly damage the life of patients and their families. However, in constructing the process of mental illness, the voice of the patient, which is usually neglected, is rarely being taken into consideration by researchers both inside and outside of sociology. This paper, which is based on a case study of a bipolar disorder patient and her family, uses the postmodern narrative theory and the recovery model of mental illness to describe and illustrate the way in which the patient and her families reconstruct the story of mental illness so as to bring about an active recovering process while at the same time deconstruct the narratives centering around the suffering and pains of the illness.The paper aims to make contributions to the literature of sociology of mental illness from three dimensions. Firstly, I seek to describe and illustrate the fluid and complex course of life of the patient with mental illness by the narrative inquiry. I suggest that the qualitative method could do a better job in obtaining a deeper understanding of complex human experiences such as mental illness. It is therefore a new approach which could enrich and augment the existing research methodologies. Secondly, I suggest in this thesis that it is valuable, in the sense of recovery from the mental illness, to put the illness narratives back to their original contexts and emphasize on positive aspects in narrative reconstruction. Finally, I argue that narrative reconstruction is one of the most important elements in the recovering process of patients and families of mental illness. By regaining self-identity through self reflection, and by engaging in positive social interactions, the pains and suffering of mental illness are no longer simply viewed as negative barriers, but have instead been given positive meaning as challenges in life to help recover and grow.The research is underpinned by the postmodern narrative theory and the recovery model of mental illness. The main analytical tool is the four-cell matrix of narrative inquiry. The narrative texts are collected from interview recordings with a26-years old female patient with bipolar disorder and her main family members in May2013. The analysis suggests that unlike "having" a typical disease which is mostly passive and negative, mental illness is a complex process in which the patient and his or her significant others can actively engage in self reflection and positive social interaction to foster a recovery process. Narrative reconstruction plays an important role in this process. This finding has a potential to enrich social understanding toward mental illness and improve social circumstances for patients with mental illnesses.