Exploring loneliness in the life stories of adults who have a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder

Abstract

Loneliness in the context of adults with mental health difficulties has predominantly been researched within the medical model, with a focus on reported prevalence and a drive to understand the association between loneliness and specific mental health diagnosis. The medical model positions loneliness and mental health difficulties as within person disorders, omitting wider socio-cultural, historical and political contexts which may shape and contribute to the meaning of these experiences. This study aimed to contribute to knowledge and practice through exploring loneliness within people's firsthand experiences across their life course to gain a broader understanding of the experience of loneliness outside of predominantly diagnostic frameworks. Therefore, to give priority to individuals’ varied meanings and conceptualisations, this study adopted the broader term of mental health difficulties. Life story interviews were conducted with five participants experiencing a range of mental health difficulties. Stories were analysed using the narrative analytic framework of Lieblich et al. (1998) as well as drawing on aspects of Bamberg’s (1997, 2020) positioning analysis. Global impressions of individual story narratives were first created, before a cross-story analysis identified three themes which illuminated how the meaning of loneliness was constructed. ‘The origin stories of loneliness’, in which histories, maternal cultures and relational norms shaped its meaning; ‘loneliness in frightening and impenetrable places’ in which meaning was constructed through the structures and systemic power dynamics encountered in the stories. Finally, emotional processes and emotional positioning located the meaning of ‘loneliness in emotional spaces.' This study therefore offered an alternative way to understand loneliness, not as purely a within person, internal construct, but a dynamic, negotiated practice, contextually bound, with an overarching narrative dynamic which further suggests a co-extensive interplay between loneliness and mental health difficulties. The need for interpersonal responses to loneliness and implications for future research are considered.

Date of Award	27 May 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Roehampton
Supervisor	Leigh Gibson (Director of Studies), Georgia Kougiali (Co-Supervisor) & David Goss (Co-Supervisor)