The Experiences of Suffering among Persons with Pschiatric Illnesses

Abstract

Phenomenology focuses on understanding empirical matters from the perspective of those who are being studied and stresses consciousness and subjective meaning in the context of the situation. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the nature of suffering associated with a psychiatric illness as described by mentally ill indi~iduals. A combined approach of phenomenological method and content·analysis was used to analyze data from autobiographies of psychiatric patients. Data were collected from five autobiographies, then . . ~ . . . . . coded into li~e groups of content·.· Five categorie·s of suffering experiences evolved fro~ 45.codes. These ·categories were: the illness symptoms, the identification of self as mentally ill, psychiatric treatment effects and processes, the intrapsychic impact of having a·inen~al illness, and the external impact·on-the individual's roles and relationships. These five categories do not represent a linear model of the suffering experience. Instead, there are interactions among the categories that impact upon the intensity of suffering. In most cases the interaction appears to be synergistic. v· Suffering is a response to the experience of psychiatric illness but there are individual variations in the manifestations and intensity of suffering. The human response of suffering· fits in~o the proposed emotional category of individual responses of the phenomena of concern for psychiatric-mental hea;I.th nursing practice. Suffering is not a discrete entity but is an ongoing lived experience as the sufferer reacts to the cause of the suffering and begins to adapt to the chan9e in life circums·t~nces and find meaning in the suffering