Self- Disruption: Phenomenological Exploring of Sense of Self Experience in Cancer Survivors

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Clinical Psychology, Kharazmi University , Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

3 Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

People who receive a cancer diagnosis, they have doubts about their past, present, and future, and are seriously challenged their relationships, their control over life, and their physical experiences. These experiences can change their sense of self. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the experience of "sense of self" in cancer survivors. The present qualitative research used interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 people with cancer. From the implementation of interpretive phenomenological analysis on the interview texts, the general concept of "self-disruption" was discovered, which includes seven conceptual clusters: temporal disruption, highlighted body, interference in agency, individual- self disruption, over differentiation, relational- self disruption, painful emotional experiences. With these results, it can be concluded that in the exposure of cancer, different dimensions of sense of self are damaged and disrupted, and its severity affects the patients' adaptation. These findings indicate that cancer survivors need to reconstruction their sense of self, and it should be considered by cancer-related service providers.

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