Search results

This study aims to explore the lived experience of loneliness among a group of people diagnosed with the contested diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). In so doing, it contributes to works offering dimensional conceptualisations of personality disorders and contributes to loneliness study more broadly which has seen a rise in interest since the Covid-19 epidemic and the subsequent enforced isolation and the resultant new phenomenon of sudden loneliness.

Participants with diagnoses of BPD were recruited through a combination of calls through online fora and announcements at self-help groups. A total of 25 people made contact, with interviews eventually being carried out with 14 of these. They were invited to take part in unstructured, recorded one-to-one interviews. Thematic analysis was used in this study, which used a narrative phenomenological approach using an Arendtian lens.

Through attending to the interwoven themes in the narratives of trauma, loss and loneliness, it emerged that the enduring loneliness experienced was compounded by repeated instances of testimonial injustice.

This study supports the need for a further deepening of our understanding of the complexity of experience at the interface of loneliness and mental ill health.

This study critiques the reductive assumptions behind websites, simplistic tool kits and training within the mental health arena dictating “what works” for loneliness. The paper argues for health professionals to develop a more nuanced listening to reported loneliness and that part of what may compound this complex experience among people diagnosed with personality disorder is epistemic injustice, rife within a climate of neoliberalism.

Neoliberalism has been identified as a key driver of distinct shifts in mental health policy and the commodification of mental health. Its fixation with medicalisation and its drive to treat “mental illness” as a problem within the individual positions people as self-contained agents and downplays, or worse, ignores the social, cultural and economic dimensions that contribute to the person’s distress. Neoliberalism’s discourse of “responsibilization” for example, urges individuals that families, communities and workplaces rather than publicly funded services become the main resources to respond to in times of mental distress. This, however, assumes a concreteness to these institutions which may be illusory and leaves those in difficulty dependent on presumed immediate social circles. These circles, however, if they exist, may contain the very people who have failed individuals or subjected them to the testimonial injustices so often cited in the narratives of this research.

The Arendtian account of loneliness rests on the premise that the human being of contemporary society is afflicted with a sense of isolation and homelessness, further exacerbated in today’s neoliberal context. By drawing on this account, the enmeshed and complex nature of mental illness, loneliness and dislocation from society and the ways in which continued epistemic injustice negatively impact on mental well-being are laid bare. Phenomenology of loneliness goes some way to helping people without the devastating life experiences common to those diagnosed, rightly or not, with a personality disorder gain a sense of the experience, and this research argues for psychological practice to be more mindful of this literature and the value of closely heard first-person narratives.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study into the lived experience of skin picking disorder (SPD) and to explore the psychological impact of the disorder.

Researchers employed a qualitative phenomenological approach, using Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

The study found that the sense of shame, common among participants, led to self-stigma, hiding, concealing and avoidance. Shame of SPD also interplayed with and compounded the shame of loneliness.

Limitations included a lack of a longitudinal component to the work. This is deemed important, as both the SPD and the experience of loneliness can shift over time as circumstances change, and individuals develop strategies for coping or, conversely, experience a worsening of the condition and the shame, loneliness and social isolation it can induce.

This study draws attention to the complex nature of both SPD and loneliness. It highlights how those living with the disorder are reluctant to seek help, resulting in low rates of treatment access and distrust in health providers.

As SPD is little understood, it can be erroneously deemed a “choice”; seldom discussed as a condition, it can lead to exclusion and withdrawal. The sense of shame of both appearance and behaviour interplays with and compounds the shame of loneliness and can force the individual into a further cycle of withdrawal and isolation.

While research suggests SPD should be acknowledged as a public health issue, research and literature is still relatively limited, and there are no qualitative phenomenological studies as yet that report on the lived experience of SPD.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experience of loneliness amongst people who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

The research used a narrative phenomenological approach.

The study found that the loneliness experienced amongst this group of participants was perceived to have taken root in childhood and was not a transient state. Its endurance, however, had led participants to develop a number of strategies as means by which to manage what was felt to be a deep seated painful sense of emptiness; some of these strategies were, however, risky or harmful.

Limitations of the study include the absence of longitudinal data which would have offered the opportunity for the close study of how people manage the experience over time.

The study has practical implications for mental health professionals wishing to better understand the difficulties faced by individuals with the characteristics described, but it also highlights the resilience of sufferers who, while living with acute loneliness continue to explore ways of managing it.

The study brings to the attention that the connectivity and sociability required and expected in today’s society emphasise the lack of lonely individuals, further stigmatising loneliness as deficit and taboo.

The paper offers a welcome addition to loneliness studies in its adherence to the phenomenological experience and offers a small corrective to the bulk of existing loneliness studies which, while valuable have been more attentive to exploring the constituent elements of loneliness than the lived experience of it.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of a social art practice and group attachment in the life of a mental health service user with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used as a means by which to explore interview data and bring to bear theories of attachment and psychosocial theories of the creative process.

The study found that the process of coming to be seen and showing, relating and narrating, was part of a process enabled by experiences of group attachment within specific groups. These groups appeared to share the core principles of a TC. The artist’s improving reflective capacity and art practice informed and strengthened each other within a context of attachment, containment, communication, inclusion and agency (Haigh, 2013).

Whilst phenomenological work of this kind is small scale, the nature of the involvement with the participant facilitates a first person narrative which allows unique insight into human meaning making.

The study offers pointers regarding the role of social art practice and emphasises the importance of developing attachments as part of mental well-being, as well as the potential role and challenge of this for individuals with severe relational problems. The study stresses the importance of groups that nurture particular experiences such as belongingness and sense of agency, and suggests why these experiences may be more effective for some individuals than one-to-one therapy.

The research adds to the debate regarding the benefits of engaging with the arts and the means by which the value of publicly funded community arts projects can be assessed. It also puts forward the case for TCs as potentially offering a substantial springboard not only to recovery but to higher creative functioning.

The paper attempts to offer a deeper understanding of the combined and interlaced therapeutic power of creative endeavour; narrative identity; group attachment and the role of the fundamental principles of TCs.