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Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
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A Narrative Analysis of Helplessness in Depression

Stijn Vanheule

Department of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Consulting, Ghent University, stijn.vanheule{at}ugent.be

Stuart T. Hauser

Judge Baker Children's Center

The transcripts of semistructured clinical interviews with forty psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents were subjected to narrative analysis in an effort to map the logic of their explanations as they spontaneously talked about helplessness experiences, and to determine how helplessness is embedded in broader story lines. Three types of narrative composition were discerned, and are discussed by means of excerpts from the interviews. In a first and predominant type of narrative, a disturbing confrontation with another is pivotal: the other's intentions are obscure; this frightens the narrator, who does not know what to do. Helplessness arises as a direct result of not knowing how to manage the "unbearable riddle" of the other's intentions. In the second, more marginal type of narrative, helplessness is embedded in an account of emptiness and boredom. The protagonist relates enduring experiences of emptiness due to loss and the suffering consequent on it. In the third, also more marginal type of narrative, helplessness is framed in a context of failure: the protagonist adheres to strict standards, feels he or she has fallen short, and concludes that he or she is a failure. Only the first type of narrative is significantly related to the psychiatric diagnoses of mood disorder and major depression.

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Vol. 56, No. 4, 1309-1330 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0003065108325969
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