RT Article
T1 Narratives & spiritual meaning-making in mental disorder
JF International journal for philosophy of religion
VO 94
IS 3
SP 233
OP 256
A1 Finley, Kate
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1869660722
AB Narratives structure and inform how we understand our experiences and identity, especially in instances of suffering. Suffering in mental disorder (e.g. bipolar disorder) is often uniquely distressing as it impacts capacities central to our ability to make sense of ourselves and the world—and the role of narratives in explaining and addressing these effects is well-known. For many with a mental disorder, spiritual/religious narratives shape how they understand and experience it. For most, this is because they are spiritual and/or religious. For others, spiritual/religious narratives still often influence secular approaches to mental disorder, more than approaches to other disabilities (e.g. intellectual, physical) or causes of suffering (e.g. physical disease). Such narratives are often harmful, especially insofar as they ‘over-spiritualize’ mental disorder; and undercut ‘spiritual meaning-making’. Here I address the impact of spiritual/religious narratives that helpfully avoid over-spiritualizing mental disorder while enabling spiritual meaning-making about it. First, I address the role of narratives in meaning-making more generally; then, I present results from my recent empirical study testing the impact of such narratives on participants’ meaning-making about their mental disorder. I conclude by addressing implications and potential worries.
K1 Anxiety
K1 Depression
K1 Story
K1 Self-narrative
K1 Meaning-making
K1 Mental Disorder
K1 Narrative
DO 10.1007/s11153-023-09879-w