Възприятиe за психичното разстройство и връзката му с биографията
The Perception of Mental Disorder and Its Link to Biography

Summary/Abstract: The article presents an analysis of interviews with people with mental disorders that were conducted under the project „Mental Health and Social Inequalities”. The main approach biographical, looking for significant differences in the time of onset of the mental disorder in the life of the individual (age, marital status, etc.) and the perception of the diagnosis. We interpret the overall acceptance of the diagnosis as a dominant characteristic of identity as an imposition of a stigma on oneself. Respondents who have schizophrenia and early onset, but also those who have several people in the family with similar diagnoses, suffer the most from this self-stigmatizing perspective. In people with the so-called common mental disorders, another model is observed: a search for a diagnosis and its successful formulation lead to a feeling of complete identification with it. Acceptance, however, has another function here - embracing therapeutic optimism. The disorder is not seen as a stigma in this case, but as one of many personality traits.

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