Narrative Unity as a Condition of Personhood

Abstract: In this article I critically discuss a claim made by several writers in philosophy and the social sciences that for an individual to count as a person, a single personality, or the subject of a life, the experiences of the subject in question must take a narrative form. I argue that narrativity is a misleading and, in some ways of understanding it, implausible condition of what it is that adds unity to personhood and personality. I pursue this critique by considering canonical accounts of narrativity in philosophy and literary studies. I consider those connections between events that must hold for the sequence to be considered a narrative: causal, teleological, and thematic connections. I argue that for each of these, the condition that experiential sequences (for a given subject) must have this structure is empty: any life sequence that is reflected upon in an interpretive spirit can meet it. What the condition of narrativity amounts to, then, is the more basic requirement that the person must be able to look upon the factors and events of her life with a certain interpretive reflection, whether or not those factors and events have any particular narrative unity in a traditional sense.     

整合循证医学与叙事医学的可能与不可能

基于整合循证医学与叙事医学的假定目标提出三点思考,其一是重视研究循证医学与叙事医学的不可通约性,将前者定义为视觉(证据)优势的医学,后者定义为听觉(共情)优势的医学,并予以价值分野的阐释;其二是从思想史的角度考察循证医学与叙事医学的精神发育,从中捕捉两种医学认知路径的类型意义;其三建议将肿瘤这一涉及身心灵不同境遇的临床领域作为整合循证医学与叙事医学思维路径的试验田。     

Treating Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder Through Narrative Therapy and Naltrexone

Abstract

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by instability in interpersonal relationships, volatile perceptions of self-image and affects, and marked impulsivity, presenting in various contexts. Current BPD treatments are individual-centered, coping skills based, with a reduced emphasis on identifying etiology and systemic components. Narrative therapy focuses on deconstructing and reauthoring personal stories. A clinical case study shows narrative therapy to be efficacious, however, sometimes psychotherapeutic interventions alone are inadequate in managing these symptoms. Medication can serve as a useful adjunct in addressing self-injurious behaviors, suicidal ideation, and dissociation. Researchers further discuss the integration of naltrexone into treatment of BPD symptoms.     

Preliminary Findings from a Qualitative Study of Trauma Survivors in Treatment: Changes in Personal Narratives

This article seeks to document the characteristics and themes of later trauma recovery using a grounded theory analysis of interviews with trauma survivors enrolled in outpatient treatment. Little research exists that speaks to patients’ own accounts of the process of trauma recovery. Such accounts might elucidate how psychotherapy helps survivors make and remake meaning of their lives, their experience of traumatic events, and the resources they might call on in psychotherapy to secure recovery. This study examined narrative material gathered in a series of interviews with trauma survivors (n?=?14) who had been in treatment for an average of 8 months and could be described as in a later phase of the recovery process. Two significant themes emerged from the analysis: (a) greater coherence to the trauma narrative, and (b) the emergence of a more reflective and observational stance with respect to one's history. Implications for trauma-informed therapy are discussed.     

围生期叙事照护与生育关怀叙事生态研究

围生期死亡并未引起医护人员和社会的重视与关注,往往导致失胎或失婴家庭成员陷入严重的创伤叙事闭锁。以生命健康叙事理念为框架,从创伤叙事闭锁之后的两种不同哀伤应对方式,即工具性舒缓和叙事性调节作为出发点,阐述由围生期胎儿死亡造成的哀伤剥夺给失胎和失婴家庭成员带来的巨大痛苦,进而倡导全社会积极创设关于失胎和失婴主题的良好叙事生态,旨在通过妇产科医护人员的叙事照护,引导“天使父母”分享自己的故事,再现痛苦历程,并藉由叙事赋能,得到关注、找到归属、重构身份,走出创伤叙事闭锁,开始全新的生命旅程。

     

Free Will and Therapeutic Change

Much of psychology has minimized, or disregarded, the notion of free will. However, it remains a critical construct in most theories of behavioral and religious change. This paper briefly examines the free will/determinism debate and the construct of free will from the perspective of postmodern/narrative psychology, as well as integrating recent developments in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Finally, the implications of this analysis on personal responsibility in pastoral psychology are discussed.     

想象空间中物体搜索的方位效应和注意效应

该工作提出,在故事阅读产生的想象场景中,位于其中的观察者对身体四周物体的搜索应分为两个阶段：第一阶段是目标方位的判断,认知加工时间的模式是前后〈后〈左＝右;第二阶段是注意指出目标方位,从而辩别目标物体,认知加工时间的模式是注意点〈注意对面〈注意点左侧＝注意点右侧。     

The Props are Falling Down and We Want to Make Music: A Narrative Perspective on Organisations in Transition (Violins/Violence in Organisations)

While South African society finds itself in the throes of political changes, therapists working within organisations in transition find themselves challenged by the turbulence of transformation. The authors are a group of therapists attempting to understand, from a narrative perspective, the organisational context within which they work. This paper recounts the processes around the design, implementation, and outcomes of a workshop on this theme. The main body of the paper consists of a letter that was sent to participants after the workshop. The reader is invited to join collaboratively in our reflections so as to continue an open-ended, creative process.     

Philosophy for Children and the Reconstruction of Philosophy

In this paper I trace the dialogical and narrative dimensions of the philosophical tradition and explore how they are reconfigured in the notion of community of philosophical inquiry (CPI), the mainstay of the collection of novels and discussion plans known as Philosophy for Children. After considering the ontology and epistemology of dialogue, I argue that narrative has replaced exposition in our understanding of philosophical discourse and that CPI represents a narrative context in which truth comes to represent the best story, in a discursive location in which there are always multiple stories. Finally, I raise the issue of children's philosophical voice. Can children philosophize, and if they can, do they do so in a voice different from adults'? If so, what are the distinctive features of that voice? I assert that it is children's historical marginalization in the Western construction of rationality that now – as that rationality undergoes its crisis – makes of them, like women and other “natives,” privileged strangers to the tradition, who are, through CPI, enabled to enter it through dialogue and narrative.     

Moral Perception and the Pursuit of Medical Philosophy

This paper begins by examining the claim that the practice of medicine is essentially a moral endeavor. According to this view, all clinical practice has moral content, and each clinical situation has a moral dimension. I suggest that in order to recognize this moral dimension, clinicians must engage in an interpretive process, and that they must be able to interpret clinical data in ethical terms. However, clinicians often lack the ‘moral perception’ required to appreciate this moral dimension. I will argue that physicians lack moral perception when the clinical data they are given do not offer sufficient opportunity for interpretation. This paper draws on the work of Merleau-Ponty to suggest that this loss of interpretation is, paradoxically, the result of the way that patients experience illness. This thesis may be productive, first, because it suggests opportunities to explore the process of moral perception. This thesis also suggests ways for ethicists and educators to enhance clinicians' perception of the ethical dimensions of clinical practice. Finally, the concept of moral perception, when grounded in the patient's experience of illness, creates a fruitful area of inquiry that warrants inclusion in what may someday be the philosophy of medicine's canon. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.