Mental Health Article Critiques 1 Summary

This article is a study of possible selves within the self that exist within those who suffer from bi-polar disorder. Essentially the concept is that there are different concepts of self within the subject who suffers with BPD for example perception of self could be divided into a persons different roles or functions in relation to others, father, teacher, wife, mother and so forth. The article begins to explain that when individuals suffering with BPD experience a negative trigger within one of the perceived selves that the negativity can progress into the other selves. If the self-concept is comprised of only a few self-aspects which are, in turn, comprised of the same limited set of traits, triggering of a largely negative self-aspect would then lead to activation of the other self-aspects which feature the same traits, thus exacerbating the associated mood (Barton, Morely, Taylor, February 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 200). Essentially if the subject is a bad teacher they will in turn be a bad mother because their ability to provide for their family is compromised by an in ability to perform at work. This article measured the degree to which the individuals had compartmentalized themselves and the complexity within those compartments . This was measured by having the individuals use words to describe themselves. The more words positive or negative, used the greater complexity of self. This study is trying to determine if there is a difference within recovery and remission of BPD of the concept of self and if complexity increases or decreased within those who are in different phases of recovery and remission. The authors used ANOVA to determine the level of variance within the study. This article suggests that BPD has been treated medically and in realtion to health management assessments such as sleep, and nutrition but has lacked in exploring the actual thought processes related to self during the manic and depressed phases of the illness. The perception this article leaves is that this exploration of self concept will aid recovery by giving the individual suffering a cognitive approach to the BPD exacerbation and give clinicians some insight into the thought processes of the exacerbation within their clients. Critique This article used only subjects from a white ethnic background. The study, while disclosing this information within the article, should have included this information in the Abstract or in the title of the

Mental Health Article Critiques 2 article because this group of subjects who are diagnosed with Bipolar disorder either in remission or in recovery is of a white ethnic background the experience of this diagnoses by other ethnicities is unknown and the research can be perceived as only helpful to those who are treating or engaged in treatment with those subjects of a white ethnic background.

The measurements of the complexities of the concept of self were simple and concise and ANOVA was used to account for variance within the study. As well as accounting for variance within the study, the individuals studied were diagnosed by the same clinician to give continuity and each subject was receiving outpatient care, no inpatients were used in this study. This does seem to allow for continuity as well as using a group that has common experiences like coping with remission of BPD and recovery of BPD within a community and not a controlled community setting. The authors criticize themselves for not using a standardized method for the group of indiividuals that the subjects suffering with BPD were compared to, it seems a concrete screening method was not in place to detect mental illness or personality disorder in individuals claiming to have suffered no mental illness . This article was wordy and difficult to follow at times, however, the information was relevant and thoughtful. Citations were made throughout the article to indicate information that drove the study as well as credible diagnostic and research tools like DSM-IV and ANOVA and included the Beck Depression Indicator and the Mania Rating Scale. This was a scholarly article and not a free flow of ideas related to the topic of BPD and the individuals who suffer and this article reflects a scholarly approach to an emotional subject.