Abstract

Memoirs and autobiographical accounts of mental illness have been widely utilized in phenomenological psychopathology and, in particular, in the investigation of depression (Fuchs 2013; Ratcliffe 2010; Ratcliffe 2015), mania (Binswanger 1960; Bowden 2013), schizophrenia (Binswanger 1957; Parnas and Henriksen 2016; Sass 1994), anorexia nervosa (Bowden 2012; Legrand 2010), and borderline personality disorder (Stanghellini and Rosfort 2013). In this article I will provide a critical illustration of the different ways in which self- narratives have been employed in this context and I will advance some suggestions as to how the use of life stories could further enhance the phenomenological understanding of mental illness and the therapeutic process.