The dialogical self in psychotherapy for persons with schizophrenia: a case study

Schizophrenia often involves a profound experience of one's identity as diminished, which complicates adaptation to the demands of daily life. Within a backdrop of dialogical self-theory, we provide a report of an individual psychotherapy over the course of 4 years that assisted a patient suffering from schizophrenia to move from a state in which few aspects of self were available for internal or external conversation to one in which there was greater accessibility of multiple aspects of self, leading to richer dialogues, improved function, and a better quality of life. It is suggested a primary intervention of the therapist was continuously to offer the client a view of himself that invited him to experience himself in a plausible manner shared with and listened to by another.