Self-narrative analysis methods in clinical diagnosis: The example of paranoid personality disorder

The article is aimed at presenting the usability of some aspects of self-narrative analysis in clinical diagnosis. Clinical diagnosis concerns not only the identification of nosological categories, mechanisms of psychopathology, or etiology, but also familiarity with patients’ self-experience. It is assumed that the patient’s narrative is a psychological phenomenon in itself; it is a way of construing and re-experiencing his or her disorder. Therefore, self-narrative analysis is expected to lead to an understanding of how psychopathology is construed in language. As the leading theoretical approach, the model of narrative development proposed by Salvatore, Dimaggio, & Semerari (2004) was chosen. In order to illustrate narrative analysis, examples of paranoid personality self-narrative accounts are presented.