| Abstract [eng] |
People with schizophrenia experience many difficulties in the perception of the environment and self, one of the aspects of self-perception is the sense of identity. Those who are affected by this disorder have many difficulties in describing themselves and telling their life stories. The aim of this paper is to reveal the sense of identity of people with schizophrenia and with what life experiences a person associates the change in their sense of identity. 7 patients with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, whose age ranged from 18 to 45 years old, 3 women and 4 men, participated in the study. A semi-structured biographical narrative interview was used to collect the research data, asking participants to tell about themselves from childhood to the present and to name what has changed their view of themselves the most. Data analysis was performed using the thematic analysis method. The results of the study revealed how people with paranoid schizophrenia describe their sense of identity; 4 main themes were distinguished: seeing oneself through a problematic relationship, personal growth and self-empowerment, disorder as a part of identity, sensitivity and its manifestation. Also, not all participants were able to name key life events that most affected their sense of identity, some were able to name positive and negative experiences, the most frequently mentioned events were related to suicide. |
