Narrative and psychotherapy--the phenomenology of healing.
A L Mishara
American Journal of Psychotherapy 1995 DOI: 10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1995.49.2.180 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that cognitive science explanations of why writing about trauma improves health rest on common-sense categories and are insufficient. Proposes a phenomenological account in which healing through narration and 'opening up' is an existential act of self-transcendence of an embodied person who organizes experience in time, rather than the translation of painful feelings into cognitive or linguistic representations. |
Abstract
In part I, I presented some results of empirical research on mind/body relationship: writing about traumatic experiences brings about improved psychological and physiological health. One important factor of healing in psychotherapy is thereby isolated empirically. In part II, it was shown that the cognitive science explanation of these findings, however, is based on categories deriving from common sense and is insufficient. Phenomenological method can serve as a form of criticism of the assumptions shared by most contemporary approaches to the human mind and brain in psychology, psychiatry, and medicine (e. g. cognitive, psychodynamic, behavioral, and biological). In part III, I presented research and concepts developed in the phenomenological tradition that have bearing on the problem of the healing factor in narrative acts (in writing and speech), including the "talking cure" of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. I described the problem of the unconscious in narrative acts from the phenomenological point of view and provide an alternative explanation for their healing effects. In short, the way we overcome painful and traumatic experiences is not seen in terms of the cognitive theory in which a painful feeling is "translated" into a cognitive or linguistic representation that organizes it. Such a theory objectifies the human subject. Healing through narration and "opening up," involves an existential act of self-transcendence of an embodied person who organizes his/her experience in time.
Comparable studies
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| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- "Seeing Rain": Integrating phenomenological and Bayesian predictive coding approaches to visual hallucinations and self-disturbances (Ichstörungen) in schizophrenia. Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2019
- Self-disturbances in schizophrenia: history, phenomenology, and relevant findings from research on metacognition. Schizophrenia Bulletin January 2014
- Kafka, paranoic doubles and the brain: hypnagogic vs. hyper-reflexive models of disrupted self in neuropsychiatric disorders and anomalous conscious states. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine August 20, 2010
- Is minimal self preserved in schizophrenia? A subcomponents view. Consciousness and Cognition September 1, 2007