Narratives of schizophrenia: the use of narrative structure in phenomenological research.

Abstract

The report demonstrates how narrative findings from phenomenological research can provide insights into the structures of lived experience that generalize beyond the individual cases. Building upon a narrative perspective, the author suggests that the phenomenological study of schizophrenic delusions can disclose the subjective lives of people struggling with this illness. Viewing delusions as stories that people with schizophrenia tell about their lives further suggests that delusions may play a role in the course of the disorder as “regulatory mechnisms” that help people modulate the aomunt of change to which they will have to adpat in the context of significant life events.