Memoir Paper

Abnormal Psychology PS-335-01 Raftery-Helmer

Memoir Assignment

For this paper, you will read a memoir by and about a person with mental illness. My goal

with this assignment is for you to better understand first-hand what it is like to have a

mental illness. I hope that this assignment increases both your understanding of the

etiology, symptomology, and treatment of mental illness, and your compassion for

individuals who live with mental illness. This paper is due Wednesday 5/12 by 8:00am.

Please upload all assignments to your individual folder located in the class google drive

folder

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1px9LMSV4znVSD30zccRGs5ComnBJtwUy?usp=sh

aring

You may choose one of the following novels for your memoir paper:

• Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat by Stephanie Covington Armstrong (Eating Disorder)

• Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression by Meri Nana- Ama Danquah (Mood Disorder)

• Sharp: A Memoir by David Fitzpatrick (Mood Disorder)

• An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, by Kay Redfield Jamison (Mood Disorder)

• The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey through Madness, by Elyn Saks (Psychotic Disorder)

Please use APA style for your (roughly) 10-page double spaced paper. Create four sections

(you may use headers to break up the sections) that address the following topics.

Importantly, not all memoirs will lend themselves to each of these questions. Be sure to

include these four sections, but delve into the section topic as best suits your particular

author’s story.

1. Describe and diagnose the individual’s mental illness.

a. Provide a narrative description of the individual’s mental illness. Include their

symptomology (thoughts, feelings and behaviors) along with examples of

impairment.

b. Include a table that details each symptom of the diagnosis (per the DSM-5)

and an example (with a page number) of the author’s experience that reflects

that symptom. Remember that often people don’t fit neatly into diagnostic

categories. This exercise will hopefully serve two functions: (1) to help you

translate personal narrative into diagnostic information, and (2) to

demonstrate that the richness and nuance of an individual’s experience is not

always well captured by checkboxes. An example table is below. If this were

Abnormal Psychology PS-335-01 Raftery-Helmer

the real essay, the table would continue with all the criteria for Major

Depressive Disorder (MDD), but 3 are provided as an example below.

Symptoms of Major Depressive

Disorder

Depressed most of the day, nearly

every day as indicated by subjective

report (e.g., feels sad, empty,

hopeless) or observation made by

others (e.g., appears tearful)

Author recounts frequent sadness

throughout her 20s. Her mother

expressed concern about her always

seeming down (pg 45)

Markedly diminished interest or

pleasure in all, or almost all,

activities most of the day, nearly

every day (as indicated by subjective

account or observation)

Author retells giving up her hobby of

playing tennis (pg 86) and that she

stopped enjoying spending time with

her friends (pg 89).

Significant weight loss when not

dieting or weight gain (e.g., change

of more than 5% of body weight in a

month), or decrease or increase in

appetite nearly every day

Author gained 35 pounds in 6

months during her illness (pg 65).

2. Describe the author’s understanding of the development and maintenance of their

condition. Answer questions like:

a. When did the illness begin? Was there a moment, or did it gradually evolve?

Does the author remember a specific turning point towards “becoming

mentally ill” but also recall early warning signs?

b. Does the author describe stressful events in their life that may have

contributed to the development of their illness, even if they don’t attribute

their illness to these events?

c. What characteristics of the author, their social group, or their context might

have perpetuated their illness once it was present? What made their illness

worse or prevented them from accessing help? Why didn’t their illness

improve sooner?

3. Describe the author’s journey through treatment and recovery from their illness.

a. How was the author coping with their mental illness before they received

treatment? Was the author using any adaptive or maladaptive skills to handle

their distress and/or impairment? Think about the ways in which the author

was functioning well during their illness – how did they manage their

symptoms before receiving formal treatment?

Abnormal Psychology PS-335-01 Raftery-Helmer

b. How did the author come to receive treatment? Was it their choice? What

made them decide to access treatment? If they did not decide, who did? Why

did that person(s) place them in treatment for their illness?

c. What was the author’s experience of mental health treatment? What type(s)

of treatment did they receive? What was the setting and duration of their

treatment? Did the author feel that the treatment they received was helpful?

What were the benefits and the drawbacks of their treatment according to the

author? Was their recovery quick, smooth, and complete with no relapse? If

not, describe in what ways the author did and did not improve.

4. Lastly, reflect broadly on the process of reading the novel and writing this paper. Just

like the previous three sections, you do not need to answer all of these questions.

Use them as a guide for the type of thinking I want you to do. There are no right

answers.

a. What did you personally learn from reading a personal story of mental illness?

Did you have an emotional reaction to the narrative? Did the book spark

conversations with your social circle? Will you choose to read more personal

narratives like this one? Why or why not?

b. How was it for you to parse apart the author story into the three sections

above? Did the sections feel natural, artificial, or somewhere in between? Did

the process bring up any thoughts for you about the way we categorize mental

illness/the DSM-5?

c. Did reading about another person’s experience with mental health treatment

generate any new thoughts or feelings for you? Was their treatment process

as you expected? Would you have hoped for a different experience or

outcome for them?