Self-defining memories related to illness and their integration into the self in patients with schizophrenia

Berna, Fabrice; Bennouna-Greene, Mehdi; Potheegadoo, Jevita; Verry, Paulina; Conway, Martin; Danion, Jean-Marie

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2011.03.006

Cited by 55 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Negative symptoms were negatively linked to meaning‐making in memories. Furthermore, lower levels of self‐event connections and meaning‐making were present in both the illness‐related and the general self‐defining memories of people with schizophrenia, relative to controls (Berna et al., ). In an encouraging vein, patients who were in active treatment actually reported a higher number of redemption themes than did control participants.…”

Section: Meaning‐making and Psychological Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Defining Memories, Scripts, and the Life Story: Narrative Identity in Personality and Psychotherapy

Singer

Blagov

Berry

et al. 2013

Journal of Personality

232

213

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An integrative model of narrative identity builds on a dual memory system that draws on episodic memory and a long-term self to generate autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memories related to critical goals in a lifetime period lead to life-story memories, which in turn become self-defining memories when linked to an individual's enduring concerns. Self-defining memories that share repetitive emotion-outcome sequences yield narrative scripts, abstracted templates that filter cognitive-affective processing. The life story is the individual's overarching narrative that provides unity and purpose over the life course. Healthy narrative identity combines memory specificity with adaptive meaning-making to achieve insight and well-being, as demonstrated through a literature review of personality and clinical research, as well as new findings from our own research program. A clinical case study drawing on this narrative identity model is also presented with implications for treatment and research.

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Section: Meaning‐making and Psychological Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Defining Memories, Scripts, and the Life Story: Narrative Identity in Personality and Psychotherapy

Singer

Blagov

Berry

et al. 2013

Journal of Personality

232

213

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In view of the literature showing impairment in recalling specific memories in patients with AUD (Cuervo‐Lombard et al., ; D'Argembeau et al., ; Poncin et al., ; Whiteley et al., ), we hypothesized that SDM in such patients would display a lower level of specificity and that the latter would be linked to the cognitive functioning of the participants, with a greater cognitive performance associated with a higher frequency of specific SDM recalled. Furthermore, and as already found concerning the characteristics of SDM in recently detoxified patients with AUD (Cuervo‐Lombard et al., ), we expected that SDM in the experimental group would be more negative and would contain more reference to their illness, as in schizophrenia (Berna et al., ) and posttraumatic stress disorder (Berntsen and Rubin, ; Sutherland and Bryant, ). Indeed, focalization on their illness may deprive patients of the ability to attribute meaning to their past life events.…”

mentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Various dimensions of SDM have been identified: level of specificity (corresponding to access to the specific perceptual and emotional content of AM; Williams, ; Williams et al., ), emotional valence (positive, negative, neutral, or mixed), integration of meaning (corresponding to the ability to update self‐concept and personal goals by integrating important experiences in the self), themes developed in memories, and sometimes the time of onset or the period of life from which the memories were extracted. Several modifications of SDM have already been observed in various pathologies and have been related to changes in the sense of identity (Berna et al., ; Berntsen and Rubin, ; Sutherland and Bryant, ). In AUD patients, only 1 study has focused on SDM in recently detoxified patients (3 weeks) (Cuervo‐Lombard et al., ), and it confirmed the reduced specificity of SDM in AUD patients.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Characterization of Self‐Defining Memories in Individuals with Severe Alcohol Use Disorders After Mid‐Term Abstinence: The Impact of the Emotional Valence of Memories

Nandrino

Gandolphe

2017

Alcoholism Clin & Exp Res

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The results underline the construction of a form of SDM with drinking problems that is mainly characterized by the disruption of positive memory and the presence of highly specific and integrated negative experiences. A disruption of the integration process modulated by the valence of memories could have repercussions on maintaining a sense of personal identity, the pursuit of personal goals and on social adaptability, and could constitute one of the main risks associated with persistent drinking problems. These results highlight the relevance of developing AM training programs for patients with AUD.

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“…For patients suffering from psychosis, one may postulate that meaning can be altered, as argued by Berna et al 35. These authors showed in their research that meaning-making was impaired for self-defining memories among patients with schizophrenia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Values as determinant of meaning among patients with psychiatric disorders in the perspective of recovery

Huguelet

Guillaume

Vidal

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Recovery is a personal process of growth that involves hope, self-identity, meaning in life and responsibility. Determinants of meaning have not been explored among populations of patients with persistent psychiatric conditions. However, an evidence-based approach aiming at assessing such determinants should provide some insight into the psychotherapeutic aspects of recovery. We tested a model hypothesizing that some symptoms and social parameters of patients are related to values, and secondarily to meaning in life, and in turn that meaning is associated with various parameters, such as depressiveness and self-esteem. We assessed 176 patients with schizophrenia, anorexia, borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder. Overall, our hypotheses proved correct: firstly, characteristics such as depression, hopelessness, self-esteem and the number of relationships influenced values; secondly, the presence and an enactment of values were associated with meaning, and thirdly, meaning was associated with some symptoms and social characteristics. This model was confirmed in the four psychiatric populations under study. These results support the relevance of addressing values and meaning in the recovery-oriented care of patients with persistent psychiatric disorders, in addition to other psychosocial interventions which are more systematically considered in this area.

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Self-defining memories related to illness and their integration into the self in patients with schizophrenia

Cited by 55 publications

References 39 publications

Self‐Defining Memories, Scripts, and the Life Story: Narrative Identity in Personality and Psychotherapy

Self‐Defining Memories, Scripts, and the Life Story: Narrative Identity in Personality and Psychotherapy

Characterization of Self‐Defining Memories in Individuals with Severe Alcohol Use Disorders After Mid‐Term Abstinence: The Impact of the Emotional Valence of Memories

Values as determinant of meaning among patients with psychiatric disorders in the perspective of recovery

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