Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

3-1987

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Harold J. Fine

Committee Members

Stan Lusby, Ken Newton, Howard Pollio

Abstract

This work is a descriptive phenomenological study of the experience of "falling apart." Previous psychoanalytic and existential renderings of the concepts of "self" and "annihilation anxiety" are critiqued as inextricably tied to the theorists' technical intentions and world-view. The present study attempts a pre-theoretical description of the phenomenon. It demonstrates that in spite of the divergent theoretical conceptions of the experience of "falling apart," a common statement of thematic structure can be derived.

Twelve adult volunteers were engaged in a dialogue on experiences they would describe as "falling apart." The interviews were neutral and open ended. They were transcribed in their entirety and analyzed for thematic content.

A hermeneutic which arose from the text was sought. A narrative structure was discovered in each of the texts. This was emphasized as the interviews were abridged into narrative digests. The texts were further edited according to the literary heuristic of Setting, Focal Experience, Resolution, and Everyday Experience. This analysis does not imply decontextualized units. This schema was latent in the text and not imported. The resulting analysis is called the narrative synopsis.

With the narrative structure of the text intact, the content of the synopses were rendered thematically. The Setting is the loss or potential loss of the familiar relationships which co-constitute the Individual's word, People and Place. The Focal Experience Is described as a loss of familiarity (Lost), an alteration in the experience of time (Time), a loss of control (Control), as well as painful moods and somatic experiences often accompanied by crying (Pain/Crying). In the Resolution there Is a re-connection to relationships, typically Interpersonal (Re-Connection), and a re-establishment of personal continuity/Intention or control (Re-Establish Control). Finally, the Everyday Experience was used as a larger horizon against which the Focal Experience emerged as proximal. Here the thematic categories are Competence, or a non-reflective feeling of confidence, and a sense of natural cadence or Synchrony.

A separate reliability study comparing the application of the thematic categories to content statements established an agreement rate of 80% full agreement and 9% partial agreement among four raters.

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