Continuity Of Self Research Articles

Maintaining Continuity of Self as Perceived by People in the Early Stages of Dementia: A Qualitative Study.

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the sense of self that occurs among those who have been diagnosed with the early stages of dementia, where the individual attempts to maintain continuity within their world. The research was conducted using qualitative induction research methods and data were collected using semi-structured interview methods. The data were reported according to COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research (COREQ). The diagnosis was Alzheimer's disease for all participants. Of the 15 participants, 6 were male and 9 female. The average age was 69.9 years. For those with the early stages of dementia, a sense of self that attempts to maintain continuity for the world in which they live is made up of the following: "living in the present while connecting to the past," "relying on those that help to connect and fill in the gaps between the past, present, and very near future," and "living daily life in one's own world where past and present are connected." By understanding the sense of self that those who are diagnosed with the early stages of dementia experience while trying to maintain continuity within their world, one is able to get closer to their world and it is hoped that this may provide hints as to how to offer support in the future.

The Neurobiological Basis of the Conundrum of Self-continuity: A Hypothesis.

Life, whatsoever it is, is a temporal flux. Everything is doomed to change often apparently beyond our awareness. My body appears totally different now, so does my mind. I have gained new attitudes and new ambitions, and a substantial number of old ones have been discarded. But, I am still the same person in an ongoing manner. Besides, recent neuroscientific and psychological evidence has shown that our conscious perception happens as a series of discrete or bounded instants—it emerges in temporally scattered, gappy, and discrete forms. But, if it is so, how does the brain persevere our self-continuity (or continuity of identity) in this gappy setting? How is it possible that despite moment-to-moment changes in my appearance and mind, I am still feeling that I am that person? How can we tackle with this second by second gap and resurrection in our existence which leads to a foundation of wholeness and continuity of our self? How is continuity of self (collective set of our connected experiences in the vessel of time) that results in a feeling that one’s life has purpose and meaning preserved? To answer these questions, the problem has been comprehended from a philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific perspective. I realize that first and foremost fact lies in the temporal nature of identity. Having equipped with these thoughts, in this article, it is hypothesized that according to two principles (the principle of reafference or corollary discharge and the principle of a time theory) self-continuity is maintained. It is supposed that there should be a precise temporal integration mechanism in the CNS with the outside world that provides us this smooth, ungappy flow of the Self. However, we are often taken for granted the importance of self-continuity, but it can be challenged by life transitions such as entering adulthood, retirement, senility, emigration, and societal changes such as immigration, globalization, and in much unfortunate and extreme cases of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

Temporal continuity of self: Long autocorrelation windows mediate self-specificity

The self is characterized by an intrinsic temporal component consisting in continuity across time. On the neural level, this temporal continuity manifests in the brain's intrinsic neural timescales (INT) that can be measured by the autocorrelation window (ACW). Recent EEG studies reveal a relationship between resting state ACW and self-consciousness. However, it remains unclear whether ACW exhibits different degrees of task-related changes during self-specific compared to non-self-specific activities. To this end, participants in our study initially recorded an eight-minute autobiographical narrative. Following a resting-state session, participants were presented with their own narrative and the narrative of a stranger while undergoing concurrent EEG recording. Behaviorally, subjects evaluated both of the narratives and indicated their perceptions of positivity or negativity on a moment-to-moment basis by positioning a cursor relative to the center of the computer screen. Our results indicate: (a) greater spatial extension and velocity in the behavioral cursor movement during the self narrative assessment compared to the non-self narrative assessment; and (b) longer neural ACWs in response to the self- compared to the non-self narrative and rest. These findings demonstrate the importance of longer temporal windows in neural activity measured by ACW for self-specificity. More broadly, the results highlight the relevance of temporal continuity for the self on the neural level. Such temporal continuity may, correspondingly, also manifest on the psychological level as a “common currency” between brain and self.

Bipartite functional fractionation within the neural system for social cognition supports the psychological continuity of self versus other.

Research of social neuroscience establishes that regions in the brain's default-mode network (DN) and semantic network (SN) are engaged by socio-cognitive tasks. Research of the human connectome shows that DN and SN regions are both situated at the transmodal end of a cortical gradient but differ in their loci along this gradient. Here we integrated these 2 bodies of research, used the psychological continuity of self versus other as a "test-case," and used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether these 2 networks would encode social concepts differently. We found a robust dissociation between the DN and SN-while both networks contained sufficient information for decoding broad-stroke distinction of social categories, the DN carried more generalizable information for cross-classifying across social distance and emotive valence than did the SN. We also found that the overarching distinction of self versus other was a principal divider of the representational space while social distance was an auxiliary factor (subdivision, nested within the principal dimension), and this representational landscape was more manifested in the DN than in the SN. Taken together, our findings demonstrate how insights from connectome research can benefit social neuroscience and have implications for clarifying the 2 networks' differential contributions to social cognition.

Life is about “constant evolution”: the experience of living with an acquired brain injury in individuals who report higher or lower posttraumatic growth

Objective To explore the experience of living with an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) in individuals who report higher or lower posttraumatic growth (PTG). Method A multi-method design was employed. Participant scores on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) were used to identify groups for qualitative comparative analysis. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen individuals with ABI. Data were analysed thematically. Results Four themes emerged. The first two themes: “In my mind I was fine” surviving in aftermath of acquiring a brain injury and The everyday as “derailing” capture the transition process from an initial rehabilitation state characterised by neuropsychological and avoidance coping, towards active rebuilding for PTG. Internal building blocks for PTG and Growing in the social world: “you need to have that social connection” elaborate on the internal (e.g., acceptance, integration of the pre and post-injury self) and external (e.g., social relationships) factors seen to facilitate or obstruct PTG. Conclusions Under certain conditions, individuals living with ABI may construe positive growth from their experiences. Practitioners can support PTG development by providing individual and family-based supports aimed at increasing acceptance, the integration of self, and social connection throughout all stages of ABI rehabilitation. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Internal factors such as having a flexible and positive mindset and external factors such as one’s social environment can affect how individuals living with an ABI construe positive growth. Individuals with ABI and their families require access to individualised longitudinal support for neuropsychological and social challenges that can result in increased distress and obstruct the development of PTG. Efforts to facilitate acceptance and support the integration of the pre and post-injury self through recognition of continuity of self and processing of new schematic beliefs can benefit PTG development. Rehabilitation providers should support individuals with ABI to develop or maintain a positive social identity within new or existing social groups.

The Sense of Dignity at the End of Life: Reflections on Lifetime Values through the Family Photo Album.

This study focuses on the dimensions of dignity, linking Chochinov’s Dignity Therapy to Schwartz’s Theory of Values. The use of family photo albums has enriched the application of dignity therapy. Seven terminal patients in home-based palliative care participated in the therapeutic intervention. To measure the effects of the intervention, we administered the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale and the Patient Dignity Inventory, then, at the end of the meetings, collected the opinions of participants, available nurses, and relatives who attended the sessions. The resulting generativity documents were then analyzed through thematic analysis, which revealed three main themes linked to both fundamental values and the dimensions of dignity: The relationship between continuity of self and myriad values in the context of family relationships; personal dignity as characterized by the values of personal success, hope, and wisdom; and hope and generativity. The fourth theme reflected the participants’ final judgements on the intervention, which were highly positive and greatly encouraged further use of photographs in similar therapeutic interventions. The assessment protocol highlighted a significant decrease in tiredness amongst the participants and a trend towards a significant decrease in drowsiness after the intervention.

The self in art therapy – Brain-based assessment of the drawing process

Art therapy plays important role in classical psychological assessment as it allows expressing the subject’s sense of self. However, its effectiveness and validity could be impeded by lack of relationship to the patients’ neuronal changes in their brain. The aim of our theoretical-empirical paper is to propose a novel brain-based quantitative objective measurement of the self and how it shapes the drawing process. We discuss recent data that how the autocorrelation window (ACW) is related to the temporal continuity of self in current neuroscience and further develop a method to use ACW to measure the temporal continuity of the drawing process, probing it in two case studies. As expected, the schizophrenic subject shows lower ACW values compared to the healthy subject and reflects the well-known deficit in the temporal continuity of the self in schizophrenia. We concluded that ACW and eventually other measures of the brain’s spatiotemporal structure might be able to serve as objective markers of the self in the drawing process. As our approach connects brain, self, and drawing process, it provides the theoretical basis for the future development of a brain-based assessment of the self in the drawing process and art therapy.

The Present of the Past: The Plurality of Competing Narratives in the EU Context

This article intends to review the relationship between European organization and diversity. Europe lives in the legacy of division of nation and ethnicity as its main source dating from the nineteenth century. Although a hyper-real Europe has emerged overcoming its deeply divided meaning, the memory of the dividing past lives in other guises. I intend to look at current lines of division (east and west, north and south, new and old, rich and poor), considered as critical fault lines in European identity formation, turning to the notion of narrative identity, which builds upon philosophical accounts of identity in terms of continuity of self and collective consciousness, thus upon the story of space-time which makes sense for the individual and for the cultural group. The focus is intended to be on the potential for cross-fitting of particular narratives and their embedding in wider narratives (political and cultural, including values), on the potential of imagining of European unity, on uniting chronicle cultures and restructuring the interaction of multiple identities on political as well as on ethical grounds. The approach is linked to perspectives from Judt, Berlin, Delanty, Garcia, Gilbert, Nikolaidis, Trenz and also refers to the so-called ‘narrative turn’ in European studies.

Personhood and Dementia Care: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis of the Perspectives of People With Dementia.

Personhood is considered the cornerstone of person-centered care for people with dementia. However, there is little research on personhood in dementia care from the perspective of the person with dementia themselves. This article presents a qualitative evidence synthesis of the experiences and perceptions of people with dementia on personhood in dementia care. A systematic search of nine databases was conducted. In addition to initial screening, CART analysis was used to determine the most relevant papers. Thematic synthesis was conducted on 20 papers. The CASP tool was used to examine the quality of the included papers. GRADE CERQual analysis examined confidence in the review findings. People with dementia experience many changes due to the disease and the experience of being cared for in different settings. Personhood is affirmed through personal interactions with family, friends, other care recipients, and formal caregivers, as well as through continued engagement in social and occupational roles. The review has important implications for practice, regulation, and policy. The person and their personhood should be protected rather than undermined, and relationships should be enhanced not diminished by the formal care process. The focus should be on creating and amplifying opportunities for people with dementia to affirm the self through interactions with others and engaging in occupational and social roles to ensure continuity of self.

FUTURE PSYCHOLOGISTS’ SELF-ATTITUDE AS A FACTOR OF PROFESSIONAL SELF-DEVELOPMENT

The peculiarities of future psychologists’ self-attitudes are considered as an important factor in their professional self-development. Self-attitude is a certain stable feeling towards e personal Self, which contains a number of specific modalities (measurements) that differ both in emotional tone, experience, as well as in the semantic sense of the corresponding attitude to oneself. The structure of self-attitude is described; it is represented by the emotional component (self-perception) and the self-estimating component. The basic functions of self-attitude are revealed: self-reflection, self-expression and self-realization, preservation of internal stability and continuity of Self, self-regulation and self-control, psychological protection, and intra-communications. The experimental study included the following methods: questionnaire on self-attitude of V.V. Stolin and S.R. Pantylieiev; self-actualization test of E. Shostrom; author's technique of indirect measurement of self-assessments to determine a character of the respondents' emotional and appraisal attitude towards their own professional self-images; D. Campbell’s Self-Concept Clarity Scale. It is experimentally proved that future psychologists’ self-attitude is characterized mainly by an average level of self-acceptance, self-management, openness, self-confidence. The future psychologists imagine their personality, character and activities mostly with respect and sympathy; they are interested in personal Self, have a sense of the value of their own personality. They are characterized by increased reflection, deep penetration into oneself, awareness on their own difficulties, adequate self-images and absence of suppression. Sometimes, the future psychologists are characterized by their self-concept rigidity, fixation, and the reluctance to change oneself against the background of a general positive attitude towards oneself. Some students are characterized by self-accusation, readiness to blame themselves for their failures or drawbacks, lack of sympathy for themselves. &nbsp

Designing stories on social media: A corpus-assisted critical perspective on the mismatches of story-curation

At a time of increased monetization of social media, there is scope and need for critical-linguistic perspectives to go beyond the focus on users’ linguistic and multi-modal resources. Drawing on the project ‘Life-writing of the moment: The sharing and updating self on social media’ (www.ego-media.org), in this article, I make a case for a corpus-assisted critical perspective which allows the scrutiny of media companies’ design of stories as communication features in their apps. What definitions and views of stories underpin such story-features? What facilities are on offer for posting stories, how are they branded, and why? Who is positioned as an ideal story-creator and audience of those stories and why? I address these questions with reference to the recent story-designing spree on Snapchat and Instagram. The corpus analysis of how stories as an app feature are launched and discussed on online media, incl. keyword analysis and lexical and thematic associations of the term ‘story’, has brought to the fore three mismatches between the marketing rhetoric or branding of stories as a feature and the actual affordances offered for them. These involve tensions and trade-offs between: continuity of self and ephemerality; textuality and visuality; creativity and control for the user vs. pre-selection templates and customization. These mismatches are revealing of a re-designation of key-ingredients of stories, in particular time, memories and audience engagement, so as to suit the apps’ agenda of metricization of users’ lives and their ever closer links with advertising.

Goals of care and treatment in terminal delirium: A qualitative study of the views and experiences of healthcare professionals caring for patients with cancer.

This study explores the views of healthcare professionals regarding care and treatment goals in irreversible terminal delirium and their effect on patients and caregivers. We conducted a qualitative interview study of healthcare professionals (palliative care physician, oncologist, psycho-oncologist, and clinical psychologist) engaged in the treatment of terminally ill cancer patients. We assessed the views of healthcare workers regarding treatment goals in terminal delirium and their effect on patients and their families. Of the 21 eligible healthcare professionals, 20 agreed to participate in this study. Three of the professionals had experience with treating terminal delirium as family caregivers. We identified five important aspects of treatment goals in terminal delirium based on the views of healthcare professionals: (1) adequate management of symptoms/distress, (2) ability to communicate, (3) continuity of self, (4) provision of care and support to families, and (5) considering a balance (between symptom alleviation and maintaining communication; between symptom alleviation and family preparations for the death of patients; balance between specific treatment goals for delirium and general treatment goals). According to the views of healthcare workers questioned in this study, goals of care and treatment in terminal delirium are multidimensional and extend beyond simply controlling patient symptoms.

Les classifications du vieillissement

L’objectif de cet article vise à confronter les classifications savantes relatives à la vieillesse aux représentations sociales du vieillissement de femmes âgées de 65 ans et plus. En utilisant la théorie des classifications interactives de Hacking (2006), nous chercherons à cerner de quelle manière les classifications de l’âge, de l’activité et de la fragilité résonne dans les représentations du vieillissement de femmes aînées, interrogées dans le cadre d’une récente recherche qualitative. Les interactions entre ces deux dimensions catégorielles s’expriment en termes de résistance face à la catégorie « femmes aînées/âgées ». La notion de l’activité est utilisée tant pour réfuter la vieillesse que pour assurer cette « continuité de soi » et son engagement dans la vie malgré le processus de fragilisation vécu.

The role of nostalgia in resistance: A psychological perspective

ABSTRACT The role of personal nostalgia in inspiring and sustaining resistance in the Ukraine during World War II was explored in narrative analysis of three memoirs. Common themes identified in the memoirs were compared to findings of current empirical psychological research. Nostalgia fortified the resistance by strengthening cultural identity, social bonds, attachment to home, and continuity of self. Nostalgic memories counteracted loneliness and supported cognitive-emotional coping during and after the struggle. Integration of present and past was instrumental in accepting personal growth in a new homeland. Findings shed light on the interaction between individual and social identity, the relationship between personal and historical nostalgia, and the distinction between healthy and maladaptive nostalgia.

Abbreviated dignity therapy for adults with advanced-stage cancer and their family caregivers: Qualitative analysis of a pilot study.

Dignity therapy (DT) is designed to address psychological and existential challenges that terminally ill individuals face. DT guides patients in developing a written legacy project in which they record and share important memories and messages with those they will leave behind. DT has been demonstrated to ease existential concerns for adults with advanced-stage cancer; however, lack of institutional resources limits wide implementation of DT in clinical practice. This study explores qualitative outcomes of an abbreviated, less resource-intensive version of DT among participants with advanced-stage cancer and their legacy project recipients. Qualitative methods were used to analyze postintervention interviews with 11 participants and their legacy recipients as well as the created legacy projects. Direct content analysis was used to assess feedback from the interviews about benefits, barriers, and recommendations regarding abbreviated DT. The legacy projects were coded for expression of core values.ResultFindings suggest that abbreviated DT effectively promotes (1) self-expression, (2) connection with loved ones, (3) sense of purpose, and (4) continuity of self. Participants observed that leading the development of their legacy projects promoted independent reflection, autonomy, and opportunities for family interaction when reviewing and discussing the projects. Consistent with traditional DT, participants expressed "family" as the most common core value in their legacy projects. Expression of "autonomy" was also a notable finding.Significance of resultsAbbreviated DT reduces resource barriers to conducting traditional DT while promoting similar benefits for participants and recipients, making it a promising adaptation warranting further research. The importance that patients place on family and autonomy should be honored as much as possible by those caring for adults with advanced-stage cancer.

Death and the Self.

It is an old philosophical idea that if the future self is literally different from the current self, one should be less concerned with the death of the future self (Parfit, ). This paper examines the relation between attitudes about death and the self among Hindus, Westerners, and three Buddhist populations (Lay Tibetan, Lay Bhutanese, and monastic Tibetans). Compared with other groups, monastic Tibetans gave particularly strong denials of the continuity of self, across several measures. We predicted that the denial of self would be associated with a lower fear of death and greater generosity toward others. To our surprise, we found the opposite. Monastic Tibetan Buddhists showed significantly greater fear of death than any other group. The monastics were also less generous than any other group about the prospect of giving up a slightly longer life in order to extend the life of another.

Tourism: A Nostalgia Experience based on Time, Space and Meaning Attribution Perspective

Under the modernity perspective, tourism phenomenon is embedded tourists’ nostalgia motivation. On the one hand, nostalgia helps tourists to experience time and space liminality, tourists experience sense of being and continuity of self; on the other hand, tourists make the nostalgia as an interpreter for tourism symbolism, built the meaning connection by interacting with the signs of tourism site. By considering the time, space and meaning attribution of nostalgia, the present study discusses a new perspective to study tourism phenomenon, this study will contribute to tourism sociology development and tourism phenomenology research.

We are not the same people we used to be: An exploration of family biographical narratives and identity change following traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACTSubjective changes are increasingly recognised as important in recovery and rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury. Accumulation of subjective changes over time has led many to examine the question of “continuity of self” post-injury. Vacillation between feeling the same and different is common and often at odds with the medical narrative preparing families for permanent change. This position of ambiguity was examined in a qualitative narrative study. The aim of this paper is to describe the narrative structures used by uninjured members of a family to understand change. These changes relate primarily, to their perspective of whether and how the injured person had changed, but also secondarily to whether and why they themselves felt they had changed in the first year post-injury. Nine uninjured family members from three families took part in three unstructured interviews during the first twelve months post-injury. In-depth narrative analysis showed family members used biographical attendance; biographical disruption; biographical continuity; and biographical reconstruction to understand change. Drawing on these findings it is argued that concentrating on a narrative of change is too limiting and that engaging in biographical narratives may help humanise care provided to injured individuals and their families. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Il modello della terapia della dignità nelle cure palliative

While dealing with terminally ill patients during the last two decades, Prof. HM Chochinov has developed a short intervention, in a program of palliative care, with the aim to promote and enhance the dignity in dying people. Chochinov and his team have addressed several challenges that particularly influence the sense dignity, among them continuity of self, role preservation, acceptance, resilience and generativity. The Chochinov’s model of dignity therapy has been adopted in many Countries around the world, and it is now applied also in a few Italian centers.

A Longitudinal Study of Relationships between Identity Continuity and Anxiety Following Brain Injury.

Objective: Anxiety is of particular importance following acquired brain injury (ABI), because anxiety has been identified as a significant predictor of functional outcomes. Continuity of self has been linked to post ABI adjustment and research has linked self-discrepancy to anxiety. This longitudinal study investigates the impact of affiliative and ‘self as doer’ self-categorisations anxiety.Materials and Methods: Data was collected at two time points. Fifty-three adult ABI survivors participating in post-acute community neuro-rehabilitation participated at time one and 32 of these participated at time two. Participants completed a 28-item identity questionnaire based on Leach et al.’s (2008) multicomponent model of ingroup identification which measured the strength of affiliative and self as doer identities. Anxiety was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.Results: Analysis indicates a significant mediated relationship between affiliative identification and anxiety via self as doer identification. Contrary to initial prediction, this relationship was significant for those with consistency in affiliative self-categorisation and inconsistency in ‘self as doer’ self-categorisation.Conclusion: These findings can be interpreted as evidencing the importance of identity continuity and multiplicity following ABI and contribute to the understanding of these through the use of a social identity approach.