Volume 7, Issue 3 (Autumn 2005)
Advances in Cognitive Sciences 2005, 7(3): 58-64 |
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Abstract: (2474 Views)
Objective: To compare life narrative of depressed and anxious subjects referred to mental health clinics in Tehran with a non-clinical group. "Narration" is the essential concept of personality in the narrative approach. In this study the three concepts of agency, sympathetic cooperation, and liberating narratives were assessed.
Method: In this analytical cross-sectional study the selection of the subjects (seven depressed, five anxious, and five non-clinical persons between 20 and 40, and holding a minimum degree of high school diploma) was done through the SCL-90-R test and the diagnosis made by a psychologist or psychiatrist. Narratives were gathered using the semi-structured interview of Mc Adams’ life story, and the data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and content analysis.
Results: The non-clinical, anxious, and depressed groups used liberating narratives significantly and in a decreasing order. Agency was higher in the non-clinical group than the two other groups and there was no difference with regard to sympathetic cooperation.
Conclusion: The difference in narratives indicates that narrative assessment can be considered as a diagnostic tool. The narrative contents of non-clinical, anxious, and depressed subjects were liberating, relative hope with uncertainty (which reduced their agency), and hopelessness and passivity successively.
Method: In this analytical cross-sectional study the selection of the subjects (seven depressed, five anxious, and five non-clinical persons between 20 and 40, and holding a minimum degree of high school diploma) was done through the SCL-90-R test and the diagnosis made by a psychologist or psychiatrist. Narratives were gathered using the semi-structured interview of Mc Adams’ life story, and the data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and content analysis.
Results: The non-clinical, anxious, and depressed groups used liberating narratives significantly and in a decreasing order. Agency was higher in the non-clinical group than the two other groups and there was no difference with regard to sympathetic cooperation.
Conclusion: The difference in narratives indicates that narrative assessment can be considered as a diagnostic tool. The narrative contents of non-clinical, anxious, and depressed subjects were liberating, relative hope with uncertainty (which reduced their agency), and hopelessness and passivity successively.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2005/05/18 | Accepted: 2005/07/24 | Published: 2005/09/23
Received: 2005/05/18 | Accepted: 2005/07/24 | Published: 2005/09/23
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