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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 14, 2025

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency

Published on: October 28, 2020

Prescriptive 'selves' and self-illness ambiguity.

Jodie Louise Russell¹

¹Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.

|July 21, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Self-illness ambiguity arises from tensions between personal identity and disorder experiences. This paper explores how social norms shape the self, potentially isolating individuals with this ambiguity from communities.

Keywords:

Alienation Mental disorder Mind-shaping Normativity Self-illness ambiguity

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Last Updated: Sep 14, 2025

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Area of Science:

Philosophy of Psychology
Social Cognition
Mental Health Studies

Background:

Self-illness ambiguity involves conflicts between one's sense of self and disorder experiences.
Existing research emphasizes resolving these ambiguities but underexplores the social dimension.
Social norms are crucial for regulating the self and social coordination.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the role of social norms in the enactment of the self and self-illness ambiguity.
To provide an account of a coherent self through the lens of mind-shaping social cognition.
To investigate the unique social challenges faced by individuals with self-illness ambiguity.

Main Methods:

Drawing on the mind-shaping view of social cognition.
Analyzing how shared norms facilitate social understanding and self-perception.
Examining the impact of transformative disorder experiences on self-related norms.

Main Results:

Social norms shape self-understanding and how others perceive us.
Disorder experiences can alter self-norms, potentially disrupting social coordination.
Individuals with self-illness ambiguity face distinct social navigation challenges.

Conclusions:

Self-illness ambiguity can lead to alienation due to a lack of fit within existing mental disorder discourses.
This ambiguity presents unique social problems not fully addressed in current literature.
Further discussion is needed on the acute alienation experienced by individuals with self-illness ambiguity.