| Abstract [eng] |
This master’s thesis is based on autoethnography, which enables an in-depth qualitative exploration of the experience of living with psoriasis and its impact on the researcher’s professional transformation into a drama therapist. Through the use of an artistic mode of expression – the form of a letter addressed to the skin – the researcher not only constructs a personal narrative about the relationship between autoimmune illness and her professional identity as a drama therapist, but also analyses scholarly literature in order to identify connections between personal experience and broader sociocultural meanings. The aim of the thesis is to reveal, through theoretical and empirical (autoethnographic) inquiry, the experience of psoriasis as a multilayered process involving the body, identity, and professional transformation. This aim is accompanied by the following research question: how does autoethnographic reflection on living with psoriasis reveal the interconnections between bodily experience, identity transformation, and becoming a drama therapist? The findings of the empirical part revealed that reconstructing a personal story of living with a psoriasis diagnosis is not merely a description of illness experience, but an intensive process of self-exploration, both as a person and as a future drama therapist. Autoethnographic reflection enabled a return to significant experiences – shame, bodily control, vulnerability, and self acceptance – which had previously been taken for granted or left unspoken. By naming these experiences and linking them to the professional field, the relationship with the body also began to change: from control, detachment, non-acceptance, and constant resistance to the diagnosis, there was a movement towards a sensitive and conscious integration of embodied experience. This inner journey also shaped the developing professional self-awareness of the drama therapist: personal experience became not an obstacle to working in the therapeutic field, but a source of empathy and a deeper understanding of the client’s sensitivity and vulnerability. |
