In search of the True Self: a clinical journey through the vale of Soul-making

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 12 - 18
• Main Author: WILKIN, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.02.2006; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Altruism; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitude to Health; Communication; Depressive Disorder - prevention & control; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Empathy; False Self; Female; Human Development; Humans; Imagination; Keats; Maternal Behavior - psychology; Mother-Child Relations; Nurse's Role - psychology; Nurse-Patient Relations; Nursing; Power (Psychology); Psychiatric Nursing - methods; Psychological Theory; Psychotherapy; Self Care - methods; Self Care - psychology; Self Concept; Self Disclosure; self-healing; Soul-making; Transference (Psychology); True Self; winnicott
• ISSN: 1351-0126; 1365-2850
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2006.00904.x

Once a person accepts any form of mainstream mental health care, she is faced with the paradox of disabling caring. Every time an emotionally distressed individual is professionally rescued, she forfeits a golden opportunity to discover and utilize her own healing potential. Yet within a mental health service that is heavily medicalized and investing more and more in time‐limited therapies, can it ever be otherwise? Drawing on the developmental theory of Donald Winnicott, together with the poet John Keats’ concept of ‘Soul‐making’, this case study provides an account of therapy delivered from outside the parameters of a health–illness model of caring. It acknowledges human suffering as a natural and inevitable part of life and, whilst acknowledging the value of therapeutic companionship, proclaims the mentally distressed person as best placed to navigate her own recovery.