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Dialogism in action: talking fact and fiction
Author(s) -
Durgahee T.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2850.2002.00507.x
Subject(s) - dialogic , conversation , meaning (existential) , action (physics) , emancipation , context (archaeology) , expression (computer science) , value (mathematics) , mental health , mentally ill , psychology , medicine , mental illness , psychoanalysis , psychiatry , psychotherapist , pedagogy , history , communication , law , politics , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , machine learning , political science , computer science , programming language
Mental health is maintained through our discourse with society. Whether one talks fact or fiction, it is not only a mode of expression but also a way of constructing reality as perceived by those suffering from psychiatric problems. Therefore, what a mentally ill person says has meaning although it may not seem so to the carers. In this study, seven patients’ dialogic journals, used for capturing their thoughts during their illness over a period of 8 months, are critically analysed. The writing shows that writing can help patients to (i) have a personal conversation to make sense of what is happening to them, (ii) assess whether fact or fiction is at work, (iii) keep flow or lack of ideas in context, instead of ‘being confused’ and (iv) value the dialogic journal as a tool for emancipation.