"This is for Life": A Discursive Analysis of the Dilemmas of Constructing Diagnostic Identities

Abstract: This paper takes a discourse analytic approach to the construction of identities formed through reception of a psychiatric diagnosis (I will refer to these as "diagnostic identities" throughout) as dilemmatic, and the subsequent negotiations of identities in light of that dilemma. More specifically, it is the diagnosis schizophrenia that is of interest, and how people who receive that diagnosis construct their identities. A key feature of receiving a schizophrenic diagnosis is the potential to see one's identity as under threat from the many negative, and predominantly stereotypical ideas, that persist regarding schizophrenia. Drawing on literature emerging from the field of service user research in mental health, the paper attempts to go beyond the boundaries of a psychiatric biomedical perspective of diagnosis, in order to illuminate how such classifications impact upon those who receive them. In this paper the discursive re-workings of individual diagnostic identities included s.... https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1376

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: "This is for Life": A Discursive Analysis of the Dilemmas of Constructing Diagnostic Identities ; volume:10 ; number:3 ; day:30 ; month:07 ; year:2009 ; Forum qualitative Sozialforschung ; 10, Heft 3 (30.07.2009)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Tucker, Ian

Further information

• DOI: 10.17169/fqs-10.3.1376
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903240
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:27 AM CEST