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" Identity management by people with a dual diagnosis of 'learning disability' and 'mental illness' "
Whittuck, Dora
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1098140
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TLets532976
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| Main Entry
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Whittuck, Dora
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| Title & Author
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Identity management by people with a dual diagnosis of 'learning disability' and 'mental illness'\ Whittuck, Dora
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| College
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University of East London
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| Date
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2009
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| student score
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2009
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| Degree
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D.Clin.Psy.
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| Abstract
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In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of peoplewith a 'learning disability' also receiving a diagnosis of 'mental illness'. Thisshift in practice, heralded as scientific progress, has not been placed underclose scrutiny. The aim of the current study was to explore the impact of thisrecent extension of medicalised accounts on people with a 'learning disability'.A discursive psychological approach was adopted to examine how sevenpeople with a dual diagnosis negotiated and managed their ascribed identitiesduring interviews. The initial research questions focused on the implications ofsubtle operations of power for individuals with a dual diagnosis, however onexamination of the data it became apparent that this phenomenon was clearlyevident in the research interviews conducted for the present study. The focusof the analysis was then directed at the sequential and procedural structure ofthe interviews, as an illustration of how they may be understood as an artefactof asymmetrical social roles and identities. This shift allowed for a greater focuson how the participants constructed their relationships with professionals, usingtheir interaction with the interviewer as psychologist as an exemplar. Theresults provide further support for findings that individuals cast as questionableutilise strategies for accounting that indicate that they are vastly more'competent' and 'rational' than they are credited for by the 'psy'-complex. Theparticipants' construction and negotiation of their membership to socialcategories demonstrates that their identities are not fixed, but instead areoccasioned and contestable, and dependent on the local institutional context.A further feature of the analysis highlights the politics that surrounds talk,displayed by the participants' construction of talk with a psychologist as'helpful', as opposed to other forms of talk, such as talk that serves tochallenge, as'unhelpful'. The findings call into question the probity of applying aconceptual framework that locates assumed pathology in individuals alreadydeemed to be wholly impaired. Furthermore, the study highlights the necessityfor psychologists, policy makers and researchers to investigate the interactionalnature of so called 'impairment', and to explore their roles in creating andperpetuating oppressive practices. Potential avenues for further action are discussed
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University of East London
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