Experience Of Self Research Articles

Meditation and interoception: a conceptual framework for the narrative and experiential self.

The concept of the self is complex and there is no consensus on what the self is. However, there are emerging patterns in the literature that point to two different selves, the narrative and experiential self. The narrative self refers to a conceptual or representational knowledge of the self that extends across time and manifests in self-reflection and personality assessments. The experiential self refers to first-person perception, moment-to-moment awareness, embodiment, and a sense of agency. These two selves are reliably linked to two distinct neural circuits, the default mode network (DMN) and the insula and salience network (SN). One of the consistent themes in the meditative and mindfulness literature is a change in the perspective of the self. In this paper, I will review how meditation alters those neural circuits providing a plausible mechanism that can explain the changes in the self. I also propose a rudimentary conceptual framework to account for some of the mixed results found throughout meditation literature.

"I feel so small and big at the same time"-exploring body experience and binge eating disorder following inpatient treatment: a qualitative study.

Limited research into binge eating disorder (BED), a low treatment rate, and a lack of treatment rights, reflects a marginalized disorder in society and a treatment context. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the psychopathology of BED, by exploring the patients' meanings related to the disorder and the role of the body in the treatment of BED. Qualitative methodology using a reflexive thematic analysis. The data material is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with six cis-gendered women who had previously completed an inpatient treatment program for BED at a department for EDs and met the criteria for 307.51 Binge Eating Disorder in DSM-5. The qualitative analysis rendered two meta-themes comprising six themes and 12 subthemes. The initial meta-theme was "Relational challenges and feelings could not be talked about at home." The secondary meta-theme was "Body contempt disturbs the experience of self and others" and the third was "Their body has not been a theme in previous treatment." This categorization depicts a narrative of the disorder in terms of development, current condition, and experiences with prior treatment. The findings indicate that shame and disgust are central to playing pivotal roles in the embodiment of BED, highlighting the significance of addressing one's relationship with their body for achieving recovery and preventing an experienced repetition of the perceived rejection as a child.

Validation of a Self- Administration of Medications Assessment Tool for Home Dwelling Older Adults During an Elective Admission for Rehabilitation

Abstract Background Safe medication management is challenging among older adults due to an increased prevalence of multiple chronic diseases often requiring complex multi-drug pharmacotherapy. Poly-pharmacy can increase the risk of non-adherence to medications in home dwelling older adults, reported as ranging from 6 to 55%. During hospital stays older adults may lose control over their medication management due to the shift in responsibilities from patient to healthcare professionals. Self-administration of medication (SAM) can increase patients’ understanding about their medication and promote independence and autonomy in the hospital setting. Methods From January -December 2023, all elective admissions were assessed for inclusion in SAM during their inpatient stay (n-74). An assessment tool, validated for use in the residential care setting was used. The tool, comprising of 17 items assesses the patients experience of self- medication, capability to self-medicate (cognition and function) and knowledge of their medications. Criteria for inclusion in SAM included older adults who self-administered their medication at home prior to admission and assessed as suitable using the assessment tool. Medication reconciliation was undertaken by a pharmacist for all patients prior to commencing SAM. Results 42% of admissions (n=31) were deemed suitable for SAM during their inpatient stay. Mean age 79 years (age range: 68-96 years). Number of medications > 5 medications daily. 90% (n-28) successfully completed SAM throughout their stay with 10% (n-3) reverting to nurse administration due to changes in medication during their inpatient stay Conclusion The use of the assessment tool supported a 90% success rate for SAM in this cohort. Further testing is recommended to evaluate the tool in other in-patient settings. An evaluation of SAM for the prospective of older adults and nursing team is also recommended.

Playing in Time: A Discussion of Smadar Steinbock’s “A Look at Chapter Four of Winnicott’s Playing and Reality Through the Prism of its Modalities of Temporality”

ABSTRACT Winnicott’s paper, “Playing, Creativity, and the Search for the Self,” Chapter 4 of Playing and Reality is the second leg of Winnicott’s two-part opus on play. It is the focus of Smadar Steinbock’s essay on temporality in the work of Winnicott and Loewald. Winnicott’s is a paper fundamentally about play. I suggest that for Winnicott, play always involves time, specifically the actual or feared loss of time or object, namely what I have referred to as the play of mourning. For Winnicott, temporality is inextricably bound with his notion of place. And they are both contained in the analytic setting. This is a setting that allows for the emergence of play and creative experiences of self, in time in general and for the time being. Like so many phenomena in Winnicott’s theory building, time involves both actual or real time and time as incorporated psychically into the realm of illusion. Chapter 4 puts forward the ways that patient and analyst hold the paradox of time as actual and as incorporated into the realm of psychic illusion in order for the patient to be found.

Through our eyes: Understanding how autistic children co-author a sense of self and relate to the world. An interpretative, observational thematic analysis

Identity development is often viewed as co-constructed within social contexts. Much research focuses on older childhood, despite early childhood being considered critical in the formation of ‘self’. Creative methodologies (i.e., those that might utilise creative mediums and the senses such as audio-visual stimuli or play), drawing upon attachment, narrative and systemic theory, and interpretative, observational thematic analysis were utilised to explore child meaning-making in the context of autism. Participant understanding of self often related to a sense of ‘difference’ and desire for belonging and acceptance. Development of creative, sensitive, applied methods has advanced methodological approaches for working with vulnerable populations. This study demonstrates that experiences of parental perspectives and interactions are connected to children contextualising their experiences of self, other, and the world around them in some capacity. As such, it is important to provide parents with the tools, knowledge, and understanding to aid the development of positive narratives to provide the best support for their children

Hegel, Selbstischkeit, and the experiential self

ABSTRACT In this essay, I offer a corrective to the standard reading of Hegel as a social constructivist when it comes to matters of the self by shifting the focus from the Phenomenology to his ‘Philosophy of Spirit’ and ‘Anthropology.’ There, a kind-of self or Selbstischkeit is revealed, anticipating the pre-reflective, experiential of the likes of Zahavi and, by extension, Husserl, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. I argue that Hegel's conception of the self enhances our understanding of the relationship between the pre-reflective, experiential self and the self of self-consciousness, contributing to the discourse on the continuity between biological and mental life. The self, as it emerges in consciousness, traces its origins to a primarily bodily selfness which is foundational to psychical life. Habit emerges as a vital bridge between this selfness and the self of self-consciousness, offering a dynamic, dialectical framework for thinking the development of the self of self-consciousness in and out of its bodily context.

Exploring the factors impacting choice and quality of overnight private hospital stays and consumer perspectives on patient reported experience measures (PREMs) in Australia: a qualitative interview study

ObjectivesPatient reported experience measures (PREMs) are tools often utilised in hospitals to support quality improvements and to provide objective feedback on care experiences. Less commonly PREMs can be used to support consumers choices in their hospital care. Little is known about the experience and views of the Australian consumer regarding PREMs nor the considerations these consumers have when they need to make decisions about attending hospital. This study aimed to explore consumer awareness of PREMs, consumer attitudes towards PREMs and the utility of PREMs as a decision-making tool in accessing hospital care.MethodsQualitative study involving semi-structured interviews conducted over the phone. Participants (n = 40) were recruited from across Australia and purposively sampled according to key characteristics: holding private health insurance, > 30-years of age, may have accessed private hospital care in the past year, variety of educational and cultural backgrounds, and if urban or rural residing. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically.ResultsFour overarching themes and six subthemes were identified from the data. Major findings were that prior awareness of PREMs was limited; however, many had filled in a PREM either for themselves or for someone they cared for following a hospital stay. Most respondents preferred to listen to experience of self or family/friends or the recommendation of their physician when choosing a hospital to attend. Participants appeared to be more interested in the treating clinician than the hospital with this clinician often dictating the hospital or hospital options. If provided choice in hospital, issues of additional costs, timeliness of treatment and location were important factors.ConclusionWhile PREMs were considered a possible tool to assist in hospital decision-making process, previous hospital experiences, the doctor and knowing up-front cost are an overriding consideration for consumers when choosing their hospital. Consideration to format and presentation of PREMs data is needed to facilitate understanding and allow meaningful comparisons. Future research could examine the considerations of those consumers who primarily access public healthcare facilities and how to improve the utility of PREMs.

Shaping health behaviors beyond reality: A full body illusion to experience the consequences of unhealthy snacking

Addressing the rising obesity prevalence, a Virtual Reality full-body illusion as a novel approach to obesity prevention is examined, allowing individuals to experience ownership of a virtual body (VBO). Although never tested, an immersive experience of a virtual self that suffers from the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle, like an overweight body, may motivate health behaviors to avoid these consequences. Hence, the study aimed to investigate 1) whether experiencing the consequences of unhealthy snacking could increase healthy snacking intentions and -intake; 2) perceived threat as potential mechanisms of this effect; and 3) potential facilitators and inhibitors of VBO (i.e., avatar body size, visuotactile stimulation/VTS and facial similarity), and whether these factors could enhance effects on perceived threat, healthy snacking intentions and -intake.Employing a 2 (Experiencing consequences: yes vs. no) ×2 (VTS: congruent vs. incongruent) ×2 (Facial similarity: similar vs. generic) between-subjects design (N = 229), findings revealed that experiencing consequences increased individuals’ healthy snacking intentions and healthy snack intake, but only through perceived severity. Furthermore, embodying an overweight avatar inhibited VBO, while congruent VTS facilitated VBO. The study provides valuable insights into the Virtual Reality experiences, paving the way for innovative research avenues in health communication and behavior change tools.

Work-related support for employed and self-employed people with rheumatoid arthritis or axial spondyloarthritis: a cross-sectional online survey of patients

BackgroundLittle is known about the provision of work-related support for (self-)employed people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) by healthcare providers (HCPs) or employers.ObjectiveThis study aims to explore the experiences of (self-)employed people with RA or axSpA regarding work-related support from HCPs and employers in the Netherlands.MethodsThis cross-sectional study concerned an online survey for (self-)employed people, aged ≥ 16 years and diagnosed with RA or axSpA. The survey focused on experiences with HCPs and employers’ work-related support and included questions on sociodemographic factors, health and work characteristics and work-related problems.ResultsThe survey was completed by 884 participants, 56% with RA and 44% with axSpA, of whom 65% were employed, 8% self-employed and 27% not employed. In total, 95% (589/617) of (self-)employed participants reported work-related problems. Sixty-five percent of employed and 56% of self-employed participants had discussed these work-related problems with rheumatologists and/or other HCPs. Whereas 69% of employees with their employer. Both employed and self-employed participants reported that work-related advices or actions were more often provided by other HCPs (53%) than rheumatologists (29%). Fifty-six percent of employees reported this work-related support by the employer.ConclusionThis survey among (self-)employed people with RA or axSpA found that the majority reported work-related problems, but only half of them received any work-related support for these problems. Discussion of work-related problems with HCPs was more often reported by employed than self-employed participants. More attention from especially rheumatologists and other HCPs is important to identify and address work-related problems promptly.

Personal identity and mental time travel

This paper examines the role of episodic memory, and the broader notion of “mental time travel” (MTT), in constituting personal identity. After arguing that the construal of memory’s role in personal identity found in traditional psychological continuity theories of personal identity is both unrealistic and unsatisfying, the paper endeavors to provide a better account. This begins with recent work in the science and philosophy of memory that sees episodic memory as part of a broader faculty for MTT (which also involves imagination and counterfactual thought). Some of the basic ideas expressed in this work are developed into an account of the connection between MTT with “strong identification” and personal identity. According to this alternative approach, we regularly “borrow affect” from our pasts and futures through forms of remembering, imagining, and counterfactual thinking that involve a particular form of identification with our past and future selves. This activity generates a strong diachronic experience of self, which contributes in important ways to diachronic personal identity. The sense of self generated through MTT is, however, only one piece of a more comprehensive account of personal identity. The paper concludes by describing its place in the larger picture.

Depersonalization, Meditation, and the Experience of (No-)Self

This paper aims to contribute to an integrated understanding of what goes missing in adverse meditation experiences and in cases of depersonalization disorder. Depersonalization disorder is characterized by distressing alterations in, and sometimes the complete disappearance of, the 'I'-sense. This paper examines the nature of the 'I'-sense and what it means to lose it from a Buddhist perspective. We argue for a nihilist position that the loss of the sense of self arises from misidentifications of the psychophysical complex with non-self elements, such as memories, thoughts, or body movements. Drawing from meditation experiences and depersonalization symptoms, we propose that the sense of self is not a static entity given in experience but fluctuates between various senses of self (and no-self) depending on circumstances. This pluralistic understanding of the various senses of self offers a more nuanced understanding of symptoms in depersonalization disorder and adverse effects of meditation practices.

Digital visions: the experience of self and others in the age of the digital revolution

The digital technological revolution shifted the balance of world perceptual experience, increasing exposure to digital content, introducing a new quality to our perceptual experiences. Embodied cognition offers an ideal vantage point to study how digital technologies impact on selves and their social relations for at least two reasons: first, because of the bodily performative character of the relations and interactions these new media evoke; second, because similar brain-body mechanisms ground our relations with both the physical world and its digital mediations. A closer look is taken at the possible effects of digitization on social communication, on politics, as well as on the constitution of the self and its world relations, especially in the context of the ever-increasing amount of time spent online, with a focus on digital natives. As we explore the complexities of the digital age, it is imperative to critically examine the role of digital technologies in shaping social life and political discourse. By understanding the interplay between content, emotional context, delivery methods, and shareability within digital media landscapes, we can develop strategies to mitigate the negative effects of misinformation and promote informed decision-making in our increasingly digital world.

Emotion and the Female Self: Finding Space for Expression

Abstract The expression of emotions, including desire and anger, is culturally encoded, being accepted – or not – depending on factors including social class and gender. In the twelfth century, while the public expression of anger was generally seen as negative, it was deemed acceptable when kings or other aristocratic men used anger as a corrective to a perceived wrong. This public utterance of anger can be seen as an expression of selfhood, of rendering exterior the emotional experience of the interior self. Yet the insular Romance of Horn diverges from this socially gendered behaviour when the princess Rigmel expresses her anger publicly. An analysis of the gendered space of the narrative allows for an understanding of how Rigmel’s anger may be appropriate in the specific context of the scene and what this shows about the expression of female selfhood in relation to her more furtive and private expressions of desire.

Mindfulness Affects the Boundaries of Bodily Self-Representation: The Effect of Focused-Attention Meditation in Fading the Boundary of Peripersonal Space.

Peripersonal space (PPS) is a dynamic multisensory representation of the space around the body, influenced by internal and external sensory information. The malleability of PPS boundaries, as evidenced by their expansion after tool use or modulation through social interactions, positions PPS as a crucial element in understanding the subjective experiences of self and otherness. Building on the existing literature highlighting both the cognitive and bodily effects of mindfulness meditation, this study proposes a novel approach by employing focused-attention meditation (FAM) and a multisensory audio-tactile task to assess PPS in both the extension and sharpness of its boundaries. The research hypothesis posits that FAM, which emphasizes heightened attention to bodily sensations and interoception, may reduce the extension of PPS and make its boundaries less sharp. We enrolled 26 non-meditators who underwent a repeated measure design in which they completed the PPS task before and after a 15-min FAM induction. We found a significant reduction in the sharpness of PPS boundaries but no significant reduction in PPS extension. These results provide novel insights into the immediate effects of FAM on PPS, potentially shedding light on the modulation of self-other representations in both cognitive and bodily domains. Indeed, our findings could have implications for understanding the intricate relationship between mindfulness practices and the subjective experience of self within spatial contexts.

Examining the association between depersonalisation traits and the bodily self in waking and dreaming

Depersonalisation (DP) is characterized by fundamental alterations to the sense of self that include feelings of detachment and estrangement from one’s body. We conducted an online study in healthy participants (n = 514) with DP traits to investigate and quantify the subjective experience of body and self during waking and dreaming, as the vast majority of previous studies focussed on waking experience only. Investigating dreams in people experiencing DP symptoms may help us understand whether the dream state is a ‘spared space’ where people can temporarily ‘retrieve’ their sense of self and sense of bodily presence. We found that higher DP traits—i.e. higher scores on the Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS)—were associated with more frequent dream experiences from an outside observer perspective (r = 0.28) and more frequent dream experiences of distinct bodily sensations (r = 0.23). We also found that people with higher CDS scores had more frequent dream experiences of altered bodily perception (r = 0.24), more frequent nightmares (r = 0.33) and higher dream recall (r = 0.17). CDS scores were negatively correlated with body boundary scores (r = − 0.31) in waking states and there was a negative association between CDS scores and the degree of trust in interoceptive signals (r = − 0.52). Our study elucidates the complex phenomenology of DP in relation to bodily selfhood during waking and dreaming and suggests avenues for potential therapeutic interventions in people with chronic depersonalisation (depersonalisation -derealisation disorder).

A Qualitative Study of Adolescents from Refugee Backgrounds Living in Australia: Identity and Resettlement.

Identity formation among young people from refugee backgrounds is complex, as it occurs while they are both integrating into a novel cultural landscape and navigating the intricacies of adolescence. The present study explored sense of identity and experiences among refugee youth in the context of resettlement. Nineteen young people (15-18 years) from refugee backgrounds, settled in Brisbane, Australia, took part in the study. An individual semi-structured interview, drawing upon the Tree of Life method, was used. The thematic analysis (TA) methodology was adopted, and several themes emerged: experiencing changes in family roles; experience of belonging; experience of bonds with lost loved ones; dealing with emotions in a new context; experience of self in the context of change. There was one emergent overarching theme of meaning-making in the context of change. These themes were explicated within the framework of social identity and sociocultural theories, which emphasises the dynamic co-construction of identity through the interplay of belonging and meaning-making within specific contextual settings. This study highlights the fundamental role of social context, particularly the fostering of school belonging, in the multifaceted process of identity construction. The findings identify the importance of integrating multiple identities and experiences to develop a comprehensive and resilient sense of personal cohesion and selfhood.

Mapping the pre-reflective experience of “self” to the brain - An ERP study

The neural underpinnings of selfhood encompass pre-reflective and reflective self-experience. The former refers to a basic, immediate experience of being a self, while the latter involves cognition and introspection. Although neural correlates of reflective self-experience have been studied, the pre-reflective remains underinvestigated.This research aims to bridge this gap by comparatively investigating ERP correlates of reading first- vs. third-person pronouns – approximating pre-reflective self-experience – and self- vs. other-related adjectives – approximating reflective self-experience – in 30 healthy participants.We found differential neural engagement between pre-reflective and reflective self-experience at 254–310 ms post-stimulus onset. Source estimation suggested that our sensor-level results could be plausibly explained by the involvement of cortical midline structures and default mode network in the general sense of self but selective recruitment of anterior cingulate and top-down dorsal attention network in the pre-reflective self. These findings offer a deeper understanding of the experiential self, especially pre-reflective, providing a foundation for investigating self-disorders.

Packing Heat: On the Affective Incorporation of Firearms

For countless citizens in the United States, guns are objects of personal attachment that provide strong feelings of power and security. I argue that a key reason for such tight affective bonds is that, under certain conditions, guns become integrated into their owners’ embodied experience. To flesh out this view, I explain (a) how firearms, as material artifacts, can become a part of the feeling body and (b) how this integration impacts one’s experience of self, others, and the world. I first apply the distinction between body-incorporation and body-extension by De Preester and Tsakiris (Phenomenol Cogn Sci 8:307–319, 2009) to delineate how guns can (and cannot) be integrated into lived bodies. I then introduce Ihde's (Technology and the life world: from garden to earth, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1990) notion of embodiment relations to elaborate on the key experiential features of technologically extended bodies and complement the previous, sensorimotor-centric accounts of bodily extension with Colombetti's (Phenomenology for the twenty-first century, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016) concept of affective incorporation. With this theoretical framework in place, I proceed to examine the motives and affective dynamics involved in the incorporation of guns, the practices by which this incorporation is constituted, and its impact on gun carriers’ habitual comportment. In doing so, I identify two notable contradictions: first, between a desire for the power afforded by firearms and the lack in oneself that this power implies, and second, between one’s seemingly beneficial feelings of confidence/safety and potentially harmful transformations in one’s perceptions of threat. To conclude, I discuss how my analysis challenges current theorization on technologically extended bodies and consider its relevance for ongoing debates over gun policy.

How Do Health Visitors and Parents Interact in the UK Child Health Clinics around Infant Weight in the Context of Overweight and Obesity: An Interpretative Research Study

Background. In 2020, figures estimated that 39 million preschool children worldwide, experienced overweight or obesity. Global prevalence has almost tripled in the last 40–50 years. The number of preschool children impacted makes it severe enough to be one of the most serious public health challenges for the 21st century, which could be addressed during infancy, for improved short‐ and long‐term health outcomes. Objective. Research in a local Trust providing health visiting services in the northeast of England aimed to describe and interpret the interaction between UK parents and health visitors around infant weight (0–2) in delivering the UK Healthy Child Programme. Methods. The research paradigm was social construction, and interpretative phenomenology enabled the interpretation of experiences of self and everyday situational encounters or participants lived experiences. The research applied theoretical perspectives of hermeneutic phenomenology and symbolic interactionism. Purposive sampling recruited 14 parents and 20 health visitors, and 4 focus groups and 8 semistructured interviews were completed. Data analysis was thematic. Findings. Interaction between health visitors and parents around infant weight was complex. Assumptions were made, and the interaction was open to misinterpretation. This impacted the integrity of the conversation. Managing infant weight was superseded by other public health needs of parents. There was no obvious approach to assessment of infant weight that might be exceeding normal growth centiles, whole family approaches, or risk assessment. Infant weight remained an emotive subject for parents and health visitors, and this governed how it was addressed. Conclusion. While existing research has emphasised that infant weight is a sensitive issue to raise with parents, this research is unique, providing detailed implications for UK health visitors and recommendations for future management of infant weight within the UK Healthy Child Programme. Findings are transferrable to other public health professionals communicating with infants and parents in the management of infant weight.

Embodied Experience of Gender and Self in Transnational Migration from Nepal

In their efforts to seek employment and income abroad, these days, people leave their place of origin and move to new places through transnational migration. In that sense, transnational migration can be taken as liberating or escaping from the existing context. While looking at certain inherent procedures of transnational migration, it can be questioned whether people can escape from their social and cultural web and conditions through this process. In this sense, transnational migration reinstates and reflects prevailing social norms and values concerning gender, class, and well-being. On top of this, based on ethnographic information, this paper also highlights the process that reflects their embodied experience of border crossing, and thus transnational migration embodies the process of gender and a particular kind of self.