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Wait for Me: Chronic Mental Illness and Experiences of Time During the Pandemic

Zelvin, Lindsey Beth (2023) Wait for Me: Chronic Mental Illness and Experiences of Time During the Pandemic. Journal of Medical Humanities, . ISSN 1041-3545. (doi:10.1007/s10912-023-09829-7) (KAR id:104526)

Abstract

As someone diagnosed with severe chronic mental illness early in my adolescence, I have spent over half of my life feeling out of step with the rest of the world due to hospitalizations, treatment programs, and the disruptions caused by anxiety, anorexia, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The effect of my mental health conditions compounded by these treatment environments means I often feel that I experience time passing differently, which results in sensations of removal and isolation from those around me. The global shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic seemed a way for normative bodies to experience the passing of time the way I always have. In this paper, I extend Dr. Sara Wasson's analysis of the ways in which chronic pain resists narrative coherence to my own temporal experience of chronic mental illness, specifically my embodied experience of the pandemic. I use that embodied experience as a case study for examining how the reciprocal nature of time and narrativity, as outlined by Dr. Paul Ricoeur, can create isolation for those struggling with their temporality due to chronic mental illness. To acknowledge and grapple with the ramifications of discursive and material privilege involved in such situations, I include an analysis of Robert Desjarlais's 1994 article "Struggling Along: The Possibilities for Experience among the Homeless Mentally Ill," in which he investigates a similar phenomenon of being outside of structured sequential narrative time in the residents of a Boston shelter for the mentally ill.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1007/s10912-023-09829-7
Uncontrolled keywords: Mental illness, chronic illness, narrative, temporality, medical humanities, pandemic
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of English
Funders: University of Kent (https://ror.org/00xkeyj56)
SWORD Depositor: JISC Publications Router
Depositing User: JISC Publications Router
Date Deposited: 09 Feb 2024 15:59 UTC
Last Modified: 12 Feb 2024 12:20 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/104526 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Zelvin, Lindsey Beth.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9776-6584
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