Storying Mental Illness and Personal Recovery

Dorthe Kirkegaard Thomsen is a professor of psychology at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is a prominent scholar in narrative identity, which she has studied extensively over the past decade. She has authored more than 60 scientific papers and has received several grants and awards in recognition of her work. Tine Holm completed her PhD on life stories in schizophrenia, then received funding to examine trauma within psychiatric settings particularly in relation to force treatment. In parallel with her research, she works as a clinical psychologist at an outpatient unit for individuals with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder. Rikke Amalie Agergaard Jensen received her PhD in psychology in 2020 from Aarhus University, Denmark. As an assistant professor at the University of Southern Denmark, she continues to study stories about the lived experience of mental illness. Specifically, she concentrates on children of parents with mental illness and family stories to aid the development of family-centered treatment and to mitigate social inequalities and stigmatization in mental healthcare. Majse Lind is an assistant professor at Aalborg University, Denmark. She is a prominent scholar in research on life stories and psychopathology, particularly in the subarea of personality disorders, and has received several awards for this work. Anne Mai Pedersen received her MSc in psychology from Aarhus University, Denmark, where she is now pursuing a PhD degree. Her primary field of research is life stories in people with mental and somatic illness, with a focus on narrative identity in psychopathology and specifically in bipolar disorder.

• List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgements; 1. Introducing the book; 2. The science of mental illness; 3. Vulnerability, stress, and burden in mental illness; 4. Recovery and mental illness; 5. Narrative identity; 6. Narrative identity, illness, and well-being; 7. How did we collect and analyze different life stories?; 8. Overview of narrative identity themes from the initial analyses; 9. Relationship themes in narrative identity; 10. Self themes in narrative identity; 11. Functional level themes in narrative identity; 12. Treatment themes in narrative identity; 13. Summary and synthesis; 14. Understanding the interplay between narrative identity and mental illness – a framework; 15. Tools for narrative repair; Conclusion; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Appendix 3; Appendix 4; Appendix 5; Appendix 6; Appendix 7; Appendix 8; References; Index.

'Through a broad and expansive overview, beautifully interweaving research findings with individuals' own stories, they provide a highly readable and articulate conception of the ways in which narrative identity is central to understanding the causes, consequences, and lived experience of mental illness. With great deftness, they present a counter-narrative of cultural conceptions of mental illness that help the reader to understand the complexity of living a meaningful life in the midst of mental illness.' Robyn Fivush, Emory University, USA