Soul, Autobiography, and Psychiatry

Abstract

Autobiographical writings are characterized by the narration of the self, which is studied from the perspectives of phenomenology, psychoanalysis, narratology, and hermeneutics. In phenomenological and psychoanalytic perspectives, we can identify basic and narrative levels of self-experience and moving from less to more mature forms of self-understanding. Narratologically, in self-narration we are interested in the distance between the narrating and experiencing self, which must remain sufficient to allow for transparency and the capacity to understand and interpret the narrator’s psyche. Equally important for the analysis of autobiographies are narratological notions of the (un)reliability of memory, where, in addition to authenticity, the potential of autobiography to know oneself and to interpret the reality shared with other people is crucial. All of these analyses dissect autobiographical accounts and expose them to us, so that we can more easily sense their transformative potential for other people’s lives. The wounded healer, who is the prototype of the strong and experienced healer, is none other than the wounded storyteller. And through the stories of wounded narrators, we are strengthened in our foundations, softened in our threatened, ossified notions of self, and matured into more empathetic and compassionate individuals. We become more capable of narrative self-making and the world-making in a more constructive way.