A Psychiatric Perspective on Narratives of Self-Reflection in Resilient Adolescents

Ayelet      R. Barkai; Nancy      Rappaport

Abstract

Self-reflection is a developmental competence that fully emerges in adolescence. In this paper, self-reflection development is explored from the perspectives of developmental psychology, resilience studies, and developmental psychopathology as a way to deepen clinicians understanding of the clinical relevance of self-reflection development. Literature on narrative identity formation in normative adolescence is reviewed, and research on self-reflection in narratives of high-risk adolescents participating in a 30+ year ongoing longitudinal study of adolescent developmental psychology and psychopathology is presented. A theoretical synthesis is proposed to account for the relations between self-reflection, competence and resilient outcome.

Keywords: Self-reflection, agency, development, adolescence, resilience, narrative, borderline personality disorder, autism, psychopathological development, developmental antecedents, metacognitive processes, self-as-object, self-as-subject, spanning early childhood, middle childhood, early adolescence, late adolescence, self-schemes, social and psychological self, Theory of Mind, competence or ego resiliency, reflective self-function, coherence of narrative, metacognitive monitoring, Psychoanalytic theory, DSM III, autistic-spectrum disorder, Asperger's disorder