"Poetry in yarn" - Making sense of life experiences in the shadow of schizophrenia

Abstract

Reynolds and Prior emphasize awareness of the importance of creation that a meaningful occupation affects how we deal with illness and disability, influencing how we view our existence. Annika is conveying an alternative story. Her narrative is no longer about what she is not, or what she might have been. Instead, it focuses on her experiences and on understanding her life experiences in the shadow of a diagnosis of schizophrenia. But most importantly, this is based on a different framework than the old one of social inadequacy and mental illness. Embroidery can be viewed as an act of resistance-the ability to express oneself on one's own terms-as well as an opportunity to create one's own world, uncensored and free from insult. If language dissected her and created a feeling of being sliced open, the work of her hands creates value and guides her in her efforts. Annika is the mistress of her own creativity, her creations and creative world on her own terms, offering a new interpretation of her life story. Our hope is that we will appeal to readers not only on an intellectual level but also on an emotional one. We close here with Nussbaum's reference to Nietzsche, describing art as an opportunity for healing: "permitting the spectator to view her own life and her own body as pleasing in their very vulnerability" because it "helps people to embrace their own lives. (and) it helps them to embrace the lives of others" (p. 353). © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved.