Life Stories and Mental Health: The Role of Identification Processes in Theory and Interventions

The goal of this article is to explore the relations between narratives and mental health from a psychological perspective. We argue that a process of identification with personal experiences underlies narrative structures that are known to be related to mental health. Overidentification and underidentification are described as general processes underlying mental health problems. Gerontological insights in reminiscence and life review and cognitive psychological studies on autobiographical memories validate this claim. Practical applications in mental health care provide even further evidence for the role of identification processes in mental health and how they can be targeted in intervention

Reminiscence and depression in later life

Dit proefschrift behandelt de effecten van reminiscentie en life-review op depressieve klachten, zingeving en gevoel van controle bij ouderen. In het eerste deel worden een review van de internationale literatuur en twee meta-analyses gepresenteerd. In het tweede deel worden twee nieuwe interventies en de uitkomsten van evaluatieve studies besproken. Geconcludeerd wordt dat life-review een veelbelovende preventieve interventie is voor (sommige) ouderen met depressieve klachtenBeekman, A.T. [Promotor]Cuijpers, W.J.M.J. [Promotor]Marwijk, H.W.J. [Copromotor]van Westerhof, G.J. [Copromotor

Nudging socially isolated people towards well-being with the ‘Happiness Route’: design of a randomized controlled trial for the evaluation of a happiness-based intervention

Background:\ud The Happiness Route is an innovative intervention that uses a happiness-based approach for people with an accumulation of risk factors for low well-being: socially isolated people with health impairments and a low socioeconomic status. The goal of this intervention is to improve well-being by engaging participants in intrinsically motivated activities with methods from positive psychology. We hypothesize that the primary outcome measure, emotional, social and psychological well-being of participants of the Happiness Route, will increase in comparison to the traditional and commonly-used problem-based approach. Secondary outcome measures are health-related quality of life, psychosocial functioning and health care consumption. \ud \ud Methods and desig:\ud Participants will be socially isolated people with health problems and a low socioeconomic status. Participants will be recruited in ten Dutch communities and candidates will be signed up by intermediaries, professionals from the health and social sector. Randomly assigned, half of the participants will follow the Happiness Route and half of the participants will follow the active, problem-focused control group ‘Customized Care’. In total, 256 participants will be included. In both conditions, participants will receive counseling sessions from trained counselors. In the control group, participants will talk about their problems and the care they get and counselors help to optimize their care. In the Happiness Route, the counselor ask questions such as “How do you want to live your life?”. The intervention helps people to find their ‘passion’, i.e., a positive goal-engaged and intrinsically motivated activity. It enables them to follow their passion through by a once-only personal happiness budget (maximal €500). We use well-validated and reliable questionnaires to measure primary and secondary outcome measures at baseline, directly after the intervention and at a nine-month follow-up. \ud \ud Discussion:\ud Shortcomings of earlier intervention studies in positive psychology will be tackled with this study, such as having a target group who is especially vulnerable for low well-being. The practice-based setting is especially interesting, as it can give valuable insights in how positive psychology interventions work in practice, but can also give rise to several challenges

Ego-integrity in the Second Half of Life

Relatively few empirical studies exist on Eriksons’ intriguing concept of ego-integrity. The present study examines ego-integrity, using the Northwestern Ego Integrity Scale (NEIS) in a Dutch study (55-95 years; N=163). The NEIS measures (1) ‘integrity’, i.e. drawing meaning from all life experiences and (2) ‘despair’, i.e. having regrets about the course of one’s life. Step-wise multivariate regression analyses show that ‘integrity’ is related to time perspective (reminiscence and hope) and mental health, whereas ‘despair’ is only related to personality characteristics (neuroticism and openness to experience). All relations hold in two age groups (55-74 versus 75-95 years). The study shows that the NEIS is a reliable and valid measure of ego integrity. As there is no evidence of age differences, ego integrity is an important concept across the second half of life. Given the pattern of relations, the promotion of meaning in life is an interesting target for psychosocial interventions

Wisdom and Well-being Across the Lifespan

Considered the pinnacle of psychosocial development, and the outcome of a long, well-lived life, wisdom ostensibly confers advantages to persons who possess it. Nevertheless, the relationship among wisdom, aging, and well-being is still not fully understood. This study investigated the relationship between wisdom and several measures of wellbeing across the lifespan. Participants included 186 male and 326 female Dutch adults ranging in age from 17 – 92 (M = 46.46, SD = 21.37) who completed measures of wisdom (Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale, Webster, 2010), personality (NEO-FFI, Costa & McCrae, 1992), mental health (Mental Health Continuum, Keyes et al., 2008) physical health (General Health Questionnaire, Goldberg, 1978), and a balanced time perspective (Balanced Time Perspective Scale, Webster, 2011). A series of 2 (wisdom) by 3 (age) ANOVA’s revealed main effects for both variables in support of hypotheses. Main study findings revealed that wisdom was unrelated to physical health but positively related to openness to experience, mental health, and a balanced time perspective. Overall, midlife adults scored higher on wisdom than either younger or older participants. Older adults scored lower on physical and mental health, openness, and the use of a balanced time perspective. The results are discussed from a lifespan perspective in which gains and losses contribute to conditions in which midlife adults show high levels of wisdom and well-being

Why does positive mental health buffer against psychopathology?:An exploratory study on self compassion as a resilience mechanism and adaptive emotion regulation strategy

Growing evidence suggests that positive mental health or wellbeing protects against psychopathology. How and why those who flourish derive these resilient outcomes is, however, unknown. This exploratory study investigated if self-compassion, as it continuously provides a friendly, accepting and situational context for negative experiences, functions as a resilience mechanism and adaptive emotion regulation strategy that protects against psychopathology for those with high levels of positive mental health. Participants from the general population (n = 349) provided measures at one time-point on positive mental health (MHC-SF), self-compassion (SCS-SF), psychopathology (HADS) and negative affect (mDES). Self-compassion significantly mediated the negative relationship between positive mental health and psychopathology. Furthermore, higher levels of self-compassion attenuated the relationship between state negative affect and psychopathology. Findings suggest that especially individuals with high levels of positive mental health possess self-compassion skills that promote resilience against psychopathology. These might function as an adaptive emotion regulation strategy and protect against the activation of schema related to psychopathology following state negative affective experiences. Enhancing self-compassion is a promising positive intervention for clinical practice. It will not only impact psychopathology through reducing factors like rumination and self-criticism, but also improve positive mental health by enhancing factors such as kindness and positive emotions. This may reduce the future risk of psychopatholog

The Narrative Foreclosure Scale:Development and Psychometric Properties of a New Instrument Measuring Stagnation of Identity in Later Life

Narrative foreclosure is a new sensitizing concept for studying stagnation of identity development in later life. It is defined as the conviction that no new interpretations of one’s past, nor new commitments and experiences in one’s future are possible that can substantially change one’s life story. The Narrative Foreclosure Scale (NFS) was developed to study this concept empirically. The NFS comprises two subscales: Past and Future. The psychometric properties were studied in two samples of older adults (n=247 and n = 220). Confirmatory factor analyses confirm that the scale consists of two distinct factors. Internal consistencies are sufficient to good. The validity is further confirmed by the relationship with demographics and other psychological constructs, such as personality, hope, reminiscence, ego-integrity, balanced time perspective, wisdom, depression, and positive mental health. It is discussed that diminishing narrative foreclosure may be an important process factor in life-review and narrative therapy with older adults