The narratives of people who suffer from depression
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the narratives of depressed and non-depressed
people in the light of the principles of a narrative approach to therapy which were
provided by a supposition matrix. A qualitative research approach, specifically a multiple case
study method was used, consisting of interviews with ten people who were suffering from
depression and ten who were not.
The research discovered that depressed participants found it more difficult to find alternative
meanings in their life narratives, and used more negative generalisations. Their past, present and
future narratives seemed more unhelpful and they seemed less aware of their wealth of lived
experience. They were more adversely affected by the limiting narratives of significant others and
they did not cope as well with subjugating socio-political stories.
While both groups showed an abundance of unique outcomes, the depressed participants seemed
unable to author these into helpful alternative narratives. The research suggested further that the
narrative approach to therapy could be helpful in therapy with depressed people, especially helping
depressed people to translate unique outcomes into alternative narratives. The narrative approach to
therapy also seemed to be holistic in nature, and depression seemed to be a remarkably complex
phenomenon.
Collections
- Health Sciences [2061]