Self and Non-Self: a Study of the Structural and Content Features of Relationship Paradigms Emergent in the Process of Soothing Pain. (Volumes I and II).

This study was designed to elucidate the phenomenon of self-soothing. Idiographic in approach, the research consisted of 23 in-depth interviews in which subjects were asked to discuss the pain in their lives, as well as their underst and ing of this pain and its alleviation. While the definition of 'pain' was left open to individual denotation, specific questions regarding transitions, separations, and the experience of being alone were addressed. A major premise of this research was that people who discuss the pain in their lives will describe the way in which they view themselves in distinction to, and in interaction with, the world around them. Interviews were designed to encourage discussion of these views of 'self' and 'other' exploring, in particular, the relationship paradigms which they comprise. Viewed within the context of the self-soothing process, these relational paradigms were analyzed in order to ascertain the thematic features of 'self' and 'other' representations which come to the fore in a person's experience of pain, and in his/her attempts to alleviate it. Structural features of boundary delineation between the entities of self and 'other' were also explored, revealing the complexity and variability of such demarcations. Analysis of the data indicated that the process of self-soothing can be viewed as an attempt to reinstate valent self and 'other' representations which the person deems necessary to the maintenance of psychic equilibrium. Additionally, it was found that the demarcation of self from non-self is best viewed as an ongoing process, constantly negotiated by the person, with anomalies in boundary establishment serving to regulate self-feeling and to re-establish prepotent self and 'other' representations. Analysis also revealed crucial determinants of the capacity to self-soothe, assessing as well, means of evaluating the efficacy of particular self-soothing behaviors.PhDClinical psychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161056/1/8612660.pd