Amina Pizzala, Elena Fogliata, Gian Piero Turchi, Dalila Barbaneralabsalute.psicologia@unipd.it, gianpiero.turchi@unipd.it

Dialogical-self CongressDialogical-self Congress26-29 August 2008, 26-29 August 2008,

Cambridge, UKCambridge, UK

Università di PadovaGeneral Psychology Department

THE MENTAL DISEASE AS A DISCURSIVE CONFIGURATION

PARADIGM AND THEORETICAL REFERENCES:

NARRATIVISTIC PARADIGM

The reality is not something REAL/CONCRETEThere are the discursive practicesabout everything

DIALOGICAL IDENTITY THEORY

CREATION OF A DISCURSIVE REALITY AS STRONG AS “REAL”

Italian Mental Health Centre (CSM)

OBJECTIVEOBJECTIVE to describe the processes for building the dialogical identity “User of a CSM”

METHODOLOGY OF INVESTIGATIONMETHODOLOGY OF INVESTIGATIONM.A.D.I.T: methodology of textual processing data analysis

(Turchi et all. 2007)

THE GROUP UNDER INVESTIGATIONTHE GROUP UNDER INVESTIGATION Users: 40 users of a mental institute (CSM) New entry: 40 people at its first interview, entering in the

CSM Operator: 40 health operators of CSM Common sense: 40 persons not ‘expert’, interviewed in

the street

-- TO USERS ---- TO USERS -- description of oneself in retrospective, current and future perspective -- how the person describes oneself in different phases of its hospitalised career. -- how users anticipated the operators could describe them

-- TO OPERATORS ---- TO OPERATORS -- anticipation about how an user describes oneself -- how the operators themselves describe 'the user of CSM'

-- TO COMMON SENSE ---- TO COMMON SENSE -- the description of the user before entering -- discursive modality of the common sense about the user ‘new entry’

-- TO THE NEW ENTRY USERS ---- TO THE NEW ENTRY USERS -- the description of an user of the centre during, before and after its stay at the CSM.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE AD HOC QUESTIONNAIREAD HOC QUESTIONNAIRE

QUESTIONS:“how do you think that today the operators describe you, thinking to your most important relationships?”, USERS“how do you think that an user describes oneself in reference to its relationships?” OPERATORS

USERS OPERATORS

Repertoire of the action Repertoire of the action

Repertoire of the diseaseRepertoire of the disease

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the normal/abnormal

Repertoire of the resolution

Repertoire of the evaluation

Repertoire of the comparison

QUESTION:“How do you describe the user of the CSM, before entering in?” OPERATORS-COMMON SENSE”How do you describe yourself before entering in CSM?” USERS

OPERATORSOPERATORS COMMON SENSECOMMON SENSE USERSUSERS

Repertoire of the disease

Repertoire of the disease Repertoire of the

disease

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the risolution

The discourses :-OPERATOR-COMMONS SENSE -USERS MHC

IDENTITY TYPED ‘MENTAL HILNESS’

COINCIDE

REPERTOIRE OF THE DISEASE AND CHARACTERISTICS

OF ROLE TO DESCRIBE THE USER REALITY

REPERTOIRES USED BY ALL INTERVIEWED

ROLES

THE EXPERTS CONSTRUCT THE REALITY IN THE SAME

WAY OF THOSE NOT EXPERT

the user is always described

considering its hospitalization and its illness

the hospitalization influences and

pervades the life of a person

roles involved in the construction of the reality of a patient that use

and refer to illness, fixing in

this way the identity of the

patient and typifying it

Operators work and behave using the

same references of the common sense,

not expert in this field

3. 3. CONSIDERATIONSCONSIDERATIONS

QUESTION :“how do you describe yourself at the end of the hospitalization in CSM”? USERS-NEW ENTRY“how do you describe an user at the end of its hospitalization in CSM”? OPERATORS-COMMON SENSE

USERS NEW ENTRY OPERATORS COMMON SENSE

Repertoire of the disease

Repertoire of the disease Repertoire of

the disease

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the characteristics role

Repertoire of the resolution

Repertoire of the normal/abnormal

also before the supposed recovery, users, common sense and ALSO OPERATORS think to the patient

referring to illness

The experts use also here references of the common sense, without refer to scientific basics

New entry once became users lost the resolution point of view, assuming that of the disease

At the beginning and imagining the end of the therapeutic train there aren’t changes in the description and representation of the patient

4. 4. CONSIDERATIONSCONSIDERATIONS

<><> THE CIRCUIT OF HEALTH PERVADES THE LIFE OF A PERSON IN ITS DISCURSIVE

CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY AND REALITY

<><> EXPERTS OFFER TO THE USERS A SERVICE UNFOUNDED NOT DIFFERENT BY THAT OF THE STREET

<><> ONCE BECOME USER THE PERSON LOST ITS NORMALIZATION AND

RESOLUTION POINT OF VIEW

<> <> THE INSTITUTE GENERATE AND MAINTAIN WHAT IT AIMS TO RECOVERY THE MENTAL DISEASE

CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS

THE PROPOSAL THE PROPOSAL

1°1°HOSPITALISATIONHOSPITALISATION

TO OFFER SERVICES AND INTERVENTION PINCHED FROM THE COMMON SENSE WAY OF THINKING

2°2°THE OPERATORSTHE OPERATORS

TO ORGANIZE SPECIFIC TRAINING TO GUARANTEE ITS METHODOLOGICAL AND OPERATIONAL RIGOR AND SCIENTIFICITY

ALL THE VOICES ALL THE VOICES

TO OFFER INTERVENTIONS ON THE DISCOURSES GENERATED BY ALL, PROMOTING THE GENERATION OF DISCOURSES THAT PERMIT TO THE ILL PERSON TO CONSIDER DIFFERENT POSSIBILITIES BY THE MENTAL DISEASE

3°3°

CONTACT:CONTACT:

labsalute.psicologia@unipdlabsalute.psicologia@unipd.it.it