Table 1 Extracted example of IPA methodology (steps 2–5/13) and (steps 6–13)
From: Anorexia nervosa through the lens of a severe and enduring experience: ‘lost in a big world’
2a. Free text analysis (all authors) | 2b. Free text analysis paintings | Book text | Lines | 3. Summarize/paraphrase book text line by line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The sea-shell as a metaphor for the AN. It offers dual function i.e. it provides satefy and protection from a large overwhelming world Yet is insurmountably heavy, imperfect, stifling eating disorder as a trap—impermeable nourishment cannot come in, disallowing growth and I can’t be seen |
Title: Shell, Turnip and another shell 2013, oil on tile, 30 × 45 cm Interpreters’ comments (via discussion) Painting is heavy (ceramic), fragile and breakable Intricately rendered, delicate, highly detailed, beautiful, pale, feminine, distortion (shadows) Image: Two shells with turnip (food) between them | I am a shell, pale and white Safe, protected, milked of colour I curl up in a ball I want to hide Heavy, bumpy, smooth I would like to shine, but I can’t I am empty A creature inside the shell A little, little thing lost in a big world I don’t want to disturb anything or anyone | 1–4 5–9 10–11 12–13 14–15 | I am a pale white shell and inside it I feel safe and protected but I’m losing my colour I make myself small (curl up) and hide I don’t want to be seen my heavy, bumpy smooth, shell I can’t shine in the shell I feel empty, and I feel lost in the shell. Am I the shell or the creature? I'm little, a ‘thing’, I’m lost, the world is bigger than me—overwhelming hiding in my shell I don’t disturb anything or anyone. I’m safe |
4. Translation—higher level abstraction to psychological framework (Gestalt, narrative, psychodynamic) | 5. Preliminary themes—6. intersubjectivity part 1 | 7. Consolidated (groups) + 8. Constituent themes 9. Chronology | 10. Clustering/Subordination * 13. Intersubjectivity part 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The seashells are a metaphor for the AN Metaphor as communication AN offers dual function—polarity/dialectic Safety and protection—Fear Ambivalence about engaging in ‘the world’ AN as ‘defence’: Stuck-ness Defense mechanism/contact interruption: insurmountably heavy, imperfect, stifling Defence: the artist—milked/robbed Self: as heavy Self: who am I—identity processes? Withdrawal and Disconnection Shame processes (being seen) Art as self True self projected Painting distorted self (shadows, hiding) versus true self (Intricately rendered, delicate, highly detailed, beautiful, pale, feminine) reflected in the artistic style | Self—intra/interpsychic processes Metaphor and painting as language Self-expression Sense of self Self colour/pale Fragility Size and weight—corporeality Identity Projection Shame deprivation physically, socially and emotionally social and emotional withdrawal isolation aloneness emptiness unworthiness/hiding/shame Dialectic Safety Protection Stuck immobilized Hope(less-ness) Hopeless–helpless | Metaphor Colour Self AN Dialectic Hope Embodiment Identity Inter-psychic processes (withdrawal) Intrapsychic processes (shame) | Disappearing Self: ‘Lost in a big world’ Embodied intra-psychic processes: vulnerable self Colour Shifting Hope Dialectical Dilemma |