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People
Published in Emmanuel Tsekleves, John Keady, Design for People Living with Dementia, 2021
Emmanuel Tsekleves, John Keady
True to the philosophy of a person-centred approach, this social theory did not emerge from the consideration of data collected from a large numbers of individuals. It was, instead, built around a single case history, or psychobiography as it was originally named, undertaken by Kitwood himself (Kitwood, 1990a). This psychobiography was conducted by Kitwood in the late 1980s with a person called ‘Rose’ whose struggle to assert her personality through the mask of her confusion triggered Kitwood’s thoughts on the need to reconceptualise the experience of dementia. After attempting to agree a meaning to Rose’s actions and behaviours with colleagues at the Bradford Dementia Group (see: Kitwood, 1990a for a fuller discussion), the team constructed a multi-dimensional theory that identified a range of social and subjective factors that they believed shaped Rose’s experiences. Whilst the emerging theory focused predominantly on the later stages of dementia in residential care, mirroring Rose’s personal circumstances at the time, it nevertheless placed the person with dementia at the heart of the formulation. It was from these observations that Kitwood (1988) used an equation to reconceptualise the experience of living with dementia along the following lines:
Theories of adult development
Published in Peter G. Coleman, Ann O’Hanlon, Aging and Development, 2017
Peter G. Coleman, Ann O’Hanlon
Erikson’s interest in the whole of the human lifespan was also reflected in his contributions to psychobiography. His earlier theories were based in large part on the narrative case studies he had written on his clients. But he later came to write two major books analysing important historical persons, Martin Luther and Mahatma Gandhi. His analysis of the latter, which won the Pulitzer Prize throws particular light on the passage from identity to generativity concerns, and how in Gandhi this generativity became gradually broader in its scope (Erikson, 1970). Later in his career Erikson returned to the subject of aging. Together with his wife, Joan, and psychologist Helen Kivnick he elaborated on the personal qualities people brought to their old age as a result of successful completion of each developmental stage: ‘hope’, ‘will’, ‘purpose’, ‘competence’, ‘fidelity’, ‘love’, ‘care’ and ‘wisdom’ (Erikson et al., 1986). Helen Kivnick and others have introduced these concepts into care settings with the aim of getting staff to look beyond older persons’ problems, to include the ‘life strengths’ they had developed in their assessments, and to consolidate and build on them (Kivnick, 1991; Pomeroy et al., 1997)(see Table 2.1).
Interpreting abnormal psychology in the late nineteenth century
Published in Waltraud Ernst, Histories of the Normal and the Abnormal, 2006
How have more traditional historians tackled James’s crisis? I now consider three historical approaches. Mark Schwehn provides a middle ground between all the positions discussed so far. He takes on board Perry’s conviction that James’ work, and especially Principles of Psychology, must be understood in terms of James’s readings, professional associations and education. However, unlike Perry he does not see cultural strains or psychological struggles as one and the same, and contends that neither can give a full explanation on their own. Schwehn agrees with Strout and Anderson that the pertinent biographical contexts in which to read James’s depression are conflicts with his father and vocational indecision. However, he does not seek to give a psychological account of James’s intellectual development, like the two authors discussed previously. Instead, James’s work is the primary unit for interpretation, rather than his state of mind. We see in Schwehn a moderate who wants to steer a middle course between psychobiography and intellectual history. He wants to say that James’s work is a product of his intellectual and professional contexts, but its rhetoric must be interpreted in terms of biographical and cultural contexts. The only position he decisively disagrees with is that of James’s son, Henry, who argues that James’s depression was a result of genuine physical afflictions, which were the actual causes rather than the symptoms of his illness.34
Contact: William S. Burroughs’s philosophy of love
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2023
The present psychobiography is a single-case study of writer and personality William S. Burroughs guided by the Freudian theory of psychic binding (see Theoretical background section), and grounded in selected primary and secondary sources that illuminate aspects of the subject’s life and work. Burroughs was chosen based upon his well-known struggles with psychological disorders, but also because he actively applied various psychological therapies (everything from mind cure, to scientology, to his own version of psychoanalytic self-analysis), to his own life through his writings. In keeping with up-to-date, hermeneutically-informed notions of psychobiography (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2000; Ponterotto, 2017), the subject’s own self-presentations, along with the surmises of eyewitnesses, are not taken at face value, but rather are cross-referenced and otherwise scrutinised for accuracy and plausibility, the end goal being a well-balanced, integrated portrait of the subject guided by the psychoanalytic theory of psychic binding (Kőváry, 2011; Mayer & Kelley, 2021, pp. 155–156).
Holistic wellness in the life of Angela Merkel: a call to revise the wheel of wellness in the light of new positive psychology movements and socio-cultural changes
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2020
Claude-Hélène Mayer, Roelf van Niekerk, Paul J. P. Fouche
As a research approach psychobiography is firmly established and growing in popularity (Ponterotto, 2014, 2015). Psychobiographical research focuses on the lives of extraordinary, renowned, enigmatic, or even contentious individuals within the socio-historical contexts in which they lived (Fouché & Van Niekerk, 2010). Ponterotto (2015, p.379) offered a comprehensive definition: “Psychobiography is the intensive life-span study of an individual of historic significance in socio-cultural context using psychological and historiographic research methods and interpreted from established theories of psychology.” Psychobiographical research employs case study methodology and has traditionally been anchored within the constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm (Kőváry, 2011). The aim is the discovery or illumination of a life story through a psychological lens (McAdams, 1994). Ponterotto (2014) viewed psychobiographical research as a sub-division or component of psychohistorical research that involves the psychological study and interpretation of lives contextualised within particular historical periods.