title: Reconstructing a sense of self in patients with chronic mental illness.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The loss and reconstruction of self in patients with a chronic mental illness.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the loss of self and its reconstruction.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors' own clinical work and review of the literature.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses can help patients who have undergone a loss of self to discover a more active sense of self, take stock of the self, put the self into action, and use the enhanced self as a refuge. This process involves the fostering of hope.
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Czuchta
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D009013:Morale; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012649:Self Concept