The Constitution of Community: How Individuals Diagnosed with Schizophrenia and Their Friends Achieved Community

This article describes a qualitative research project, based on a grounded theory design, that addressed the processes involved in how individuals with schizophrenia were able to use their own abilities to form a self-authored community. The article offers a perspective on community integration that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 1999-07, Vol.62 (2), p.173-186
Main Author: Beal, Georgiana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living - psychology
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Biological and medical sciences
Community living
Female
Friendship
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Medical sciences
Patients
Personal relationships
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychoses
Qualitative research
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - diagnosis
Schizophrenia - rehabilitation
Schizophrenic Psychology
Social Adjustment
Social Distance
Social Environment
Social Support
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Summary:This article describes a qualitative research project, based on a grounded theory design, that addressed the processes involved in how individuals with schizophrenia were able to use their own abilities to form a self-authored community. The article offers a perspective on community integration that takes into account the importance of relationships, and in the case of individuals with schizophrenia, the importance of day-to-day relationships. The assumption is that the constitution of community is an outcome of the processes involved in learning and practicing being social (Cohen 1985, p. 15). These relationships do not necessarily have to be strong or numerous in order for community integration to be realized. In this article it is argued that an element in the establishment of such relationships for individuals with schizophrenia is the ready availability of others on a day-to-day basis. Relationships and friendships grew for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia when such access occurred in a place where the context of what was likely to happen in an interaction was relatively well understood.
ISSN:0033-2747
1943-281X
DOI:10.1080/00332747.1999.11024863