ABSTRACT
Narrative identity can be understood as an evolving story of the self in which the reconstructed past, the current present, and the projected future are interwoven, allowing the development of a sense of unity and meaning-sense of self. These narratives of personal experiences are dynamic reflections of how people recall their experiences (autobiographical memories). At the same time, they are subjective constructions, with an objective impact. For example, remembering and narrating personal experiences prior to brain damage (aphasia), at the present time, or even anticipating future experiences can facilitate the development of a stronger sense of the self across time. When this ability to narrate and communicate personal experiences is damaged, this process is hindered. Language impairment impacts dramatically the person’s quality of life in different areas: personal relationships, work, the ability for constructing a strong sense of self, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, etc. The impact of aphasia on identity is frequently acknowledged, but only a limited number of studies have focused on narrative as a tool for understanding and researching this linguistic and communicative disability and its relationship with self-making processes. In our view, narrative can play a crucial role in these processes. When linguistic and communicative capacities of the individual are damaged by aphasia, the individual suffers a loss of identity. We are words, we define ourselves with words and when words are missing, our possibilities as human being are limited so that the very concept of the self is affected. Thus, the aim of this chapter is to analyse the relationship between self-descriptions and personal narratives of people with aphasia in different life periods, considering brain damage as a turning point. The study focuses on the analysis of the identity (re)construction process in people with acquired brain damage, as a consequence of which they have suffered different types of aphasia. We will describe this process by identifying and delimiting some aspects involved. For this, an instrument that explores the following aspects was used: (a) socio-demographic data; (b) narratives of a series of life experiences and events (a self-defining memory before brain, a memory after the brain damage, and, finally, a projection to the future). All these memories were referred to different life-domains: family, work, and leisure; and (c) an adapted and reduced version of the Twenty Statement Test (TST), a qualitative instrument to elicit self-descriptions. In this chapter we present the results of the TST (self-descriptions).
