AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL REASONING AND SEVERITY OF PERSONALITY DYSFUNCTION
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL REASONING AND SEVERITY OF PERSONALITY DYSFUNCTION

Summary/Abstract: Narrative identity is defined as a personal life story that integrates an understanding of the past andan envisioned future to provide life with a sense of meaning, unity and purpose. The key processthrough the construction of narrative identity is autobiographical reasoning, which can be understoodfrom the perspective of three indicators: exploratory narrative processing, meaning-making, and self-event connections. The relationship between narrative identity and personality disorders has beenexamined extensively over the last decade. According to the latest literature, autobiographicalreasoning could be a crucial narrative indicator of the severity of personality dysfunction. However,there was no research to verify this hypothesis. The main goal of the presented research was toexamine relationships between autobiographical reasoning and the severity of personalitydysfunction. The analysis includes data collected from 11 volunteers using a questionnaire (Self andInterpersonal Functioning Scale [SIFS]) and Life Story Interview (Critical Events). Each statementwas treated separately (N = 88) in order to enable statistical analysis. The preliminary results showthat the indicators of autobiographical reasoning are negatively correlated with some of the aspects ofthe severity of personality dysfunction. The results support the reasonability of the approach followedin this research, and contribute to academic discussion about relationships between narrative identityand personality disorders.

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