Identity processes and perceptions of the life span in chronic mental patients.
This study was an exploratory investigation of identity and life-span perceptions in a sample of thirty-seven chronic mental patients, ranging from twenty-three to sixty-four years of age, using the "life drawing," a projective technique. Age differences were found in the adaptation of identity to the life experiences associated with mental illness. Individuals less than thirty years old were more likely to adopt a "patient identity"; in contrast, the over-forty years-old adapted to their illness through denial. These differences held regardless of psychiatric diagnosis, suggesting a process of identity adaptation more general than is implied in mental disorder diagnostic systems.
Whitbourne
S K
SK
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Sherry
M
M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001155:Art Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008606:Mental Processes; D008875:Middle Aged; D011386:Projective Techniques; D012649:Self Concept; D012803:Sick Role