Identity and causal explanations in mental health care.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring how explanatory models are framed, interpreted, and shape client identities within secondary mental health care settings.
IRAS ID
193683
Contact name
Rhiannon Lane
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
19539, UKCRN database
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Stigma is a troublesome issue in mental health, making it important to understand how those with mental illness come to have 'spoiled identities' (Goffman, 1963), i.e. a damaged sense of self. The mental health system has an important role in helping clients rebuild a positive sense of self. This PhD project will consider how causal explanations for mental illness can shape clients' identities. Previous findings on the relationship between causal explanations and stigma have revealed a complex and contradictory picture, whereby certain types of explanatory models appear to be associated with distinct forms of stigma - a relationship mediated by diagnosis. The tendency for causal explanations to produce distinct types of stigma has been termed the ‘brain or blame dilemma’ (Boyle, 2013). Mental health professionals are arguably influential users of explanatory models, and diagnostic and therapeutic encounters are key sites where client identities are shaped (White & Epston, 1990). Therefore, professional-client interactions provide an ideal space in which to explore how these explanatory models shape patient identities. The study will explore the complex ways in which causal explanations are framed and communicated in naturally occurring conversation between professionals and clients, and how these explanations might function to neutralise or increase stigma for mental health clients, e.g. through allocating/deflecting responsibility, by relating the cause to the person's personality etc.
References
Boyle, M. (2013). The persistence of medicalisation: Is the presentation of alternatives part of the problem? In S. Coles, S Keenan, & B. Diamond (Eds.), Madness contested: Power and Practice. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York, Simon & Schuster Inc.
White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. WW Norton & Company.
REC name
Wales REC 1
REC reference
16/WA/0011
Date of REC Opinion
18 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion