Narrative, identity and mental health: How men with serious mental illness re-story their lives through sport and exercise

Objectives: It has been suggested that mental illness threatens identity and sense of self when one's personal story is displaced by dominant illness narratives focussing on deficit and dysfunction. One role of therapy, therefore, is to allow individuals to re-story their life in a more positive way which facilitates the reconstruction of a meaningful identity and sense of self. This research explores the ways in which involvement in sport and exercise may play a part in this process. Design: Qualitative analysis of narrative. Method: We used an interpretive approach which included semi-structured interviews and participant observation with 11 men with serious mental illness to gather stories of participants' sport and exercise experiences. We conducted an analysis of narrative to explore the more general narrative types which were evident in participants' accounts. Findings: We identified three narrative types underlying participants' talk about sport and exercise: (a) an action narrative about "going places and doing stuff"; (b) an achievement narrative about accomplishment through effort, skill or courage; (c) a relationship narrative of shared experiences to talk about combined with opportunities to talk about those experiences. We note that these narrative types differ significantly from-and may be considered alternatives to-dominant illness narratives. Conclusion: This study provides an alternative perspective on how sport and exercise can help men with serious mental illness by providing the narrative resources which enabled participants to re-story aspects of their lives through creating and sharing personal stories through which they rebuilt or maintained a positive sense of self and identity. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Story-telling: A telling approach in healthcare education

Paper presented at the 2nd The Narrative Practitioner international conference at NEWI in Wrexham, UK, 23-25 June 2008.This powerpoint presentation and associated notes discusses storytelling as a teaching strategy within healthcare. It gives the background to investigating the use of storytelling and discusses the findings from the literature. It is further supported by a small piece of research undertaken, which identifies ‘good reads’ recommended by healthcare lecturers

Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy (NT) is a strengths-based approach to psychotherapy that uses collaboration between the client or family and the therapist to help clients see themselves as empowered and capable of living the way they want. In the face of crisis or trauma, NT helps clients achieve a “This too will pass” attitude, while positioning the therapist as an appreciative ally in the process. NT is useful with individuals and is used extensively with families due to its ability to separate clients from problems and unite families against problematic patterns. NT also lends itself well to joining with families because it stresses strengths and achievements over problems

Narrative in Law and Life: Some Frequently Asked Questions

This article briefly addresses the following questions: Why should we study narrative? Does narrative have a basic overarching form or forms? How does framing drive narrative? How do concepts drive narrative? What can we do when we lack the necessary concepts for the narrative we need to tell? Are there basic storylines that repeat? Are there basic character types that we reuse? Can narrative drive the results of a Supreme Court case? Can narrative drive transactional practice? How does narrative's importance underscore the importance of an education in the humanities

Narrative Analysis of Marketing Communication Y2K Music School and Studio on Social Media

This research was conducted to find out how the branding activity done by Y2K Music School and Studio through social media account Instagram @ y2kstudio. This research would like to examine more deeply related to marketing activity such as what applied Y2K Music School and Studio in building brand Y2K Music School and Studio as a music school through its official Instagram. There is also a method used in this research is a method of narrative analysis which is a method in the field of qualitative research. The data were collected using literature study on textbooks, online data tracking, and in-depth interviews on key informants related to the study. The results of this study states that the form of branding activities conducted by Y2K Music School and Studio through social media accounts Instagram @ y2kstudio is a marketing communication in the form of delivering information with positive ambiance related Y2K Music School and Studio and also in the form of information delivery activities related promotions which is currently running at Y2K Music School and Studio