Phenomenology of Identity: Mobilizing Narrative Medicine Towards the Care of Eating Disorders-View Presentation

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Leila Keneo, a psychiatry resident at Yale, and Harini Sridhar, a third-year medical student at the University of North Carolina, have explored the intersection of medicine and psychiatry, focusing on narrative medicine. They shared insights from their research, which involved designing and implementing narrative medicine workshop series at a residential treatment program for eating disorder patients. These workshops aimed to use narrative practices to challenge and expand patients' sense of self, incorporating tools like close readings of art and writing prompts to foster reflective thinking.<br /><br />Their session revealed that individuals with eating disorders often grapple with identity issues, feeling both proud of their disorder yet fearful of recovery, questioning who they'd be without their disorder. Narrative medicine was utilized to shift these perceptions, promoting self-exploration and new identity formation.<br /><br />Keneo and Sridhar conducted qualitative research, involving patient and provider workshops at Carolina House, a treatment center for eating disorders. They sought to create safe spaces for dialogue and offered exercises in narrative medicine. For their study, they analyzed the workshop's impact and shared their findings, which highlighted changes in participants' self-perception, greater narrative competence among providers, and improved orientation towards treatment.<br /><br />The session concluded with a narrative exercise for the attendees, inviting reflections and shared insights, emphasizing the power of storytelling and attentive listening. The presenters expressed gratitude for the engagement, reinforcing the potential of narrative medicine to foster empathy and understanding in clinical settings.

Keywords

narrative medicine

psychiatry

eating disorders

identity issues

self-exploration

Yale

University of North Carolina

qualitative research

Carolina House

storytelling