Elsevier

The Arts in Psychotherapy

Volume 75, September 2021, 101825
The Arts in Psychotherapy

Exploring the adolescent-self through written and visual diaries

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2021.101825Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Exploring adolescent written and visual diaries may hold a therapeutic potential.

  • Adolescent diaries can be one useful way to explore autobiographic memory and self-identity.

  • Past identifications and the current self can be explored in art therapy to enhance self-identity.

Abstract

Memories about our childhoods and adolescence may not always be accurate, but they do influence how we position ourselves as adults. In this paper, I assert that written and visual diaries can be used as a way to access the most accurate version of one’s younger years, and thus, they can help one explore their self-narrative and enhance their self-understanding.

In this auto-hermeneutic inquiry, I studied the therapeutic potential of exploring my own early diaries and attempted to answer how reviewing one’s early thinking and emotions might influence a person’s current self-identity. In this research, I identified three aspects that enriched my understanding of my adolescence, and hence, my current self. First, the recurring narratives found in my adolescent diaries enhanced my understanding of the way I feel about particular things today. Second, I realized that the narrative I built around my teen self was not actually an accurate representation of my younger self. Third, using my diaries allowed me to identify important correlations between my past experiences and my current self.

I conclude that adolescent diaries are one useful way to explore autobiographic memory and self-identity. Realizations drawn from earlier diaries can then be explored further through art therapy.

Section snippets

Adolescence and identity development

A person’s sense of identity is what gives an individual the feeling of self-sameness and continuity (Erikson, 1970). According to Blasi and Milton (1991), a person’s sense of self emerges in adolescence through changes in three fundamental areas. First, the adolescent reorganizes their needs and identification with their parents. Second, the adolescent identifies new social roles and relationships embedded in their respective culture and society. Third, the adolescent explores independence and

Methodology

For the present research, I used an auto-hermeneutic methodology to understand the relationship between the lived experiences, emotions, and thoughts found in my own adolescent diaries, and my currently perceived self-identity. Using auto-hermeneutics enabled me to utilize my own diaries as a tool to explore the ontological phenomenon of memory and the perceived self. Thus, I investigated whether returning to my adolescent diaries could help enhance my currently constructed sense of self,

Data analysis

As discussed above, the data consisted of diary entries and artworks found in four diaries. These diaries, which were kept regularly between June 2001 and September 2006, consisted of 168 diary entries and eight images. In all, I coded183 items (statements or sentences), all in my native language, Turkish.

The data analysis had three components. First, using an IPA approach, I attempted to see how the world was constructed through my adolescent-self’s eyes (Smith et al., 2009). While doing so, I

Findings

As described in detail above, the phenomenon under investigation in this auto-hermeneutic study was memory and changes in sense of self. Therefore, throughout the data analysis phase, I consistently kept notes on the meaning units and why I chose each one. This notetaking was not a linear process; rather, it was iterative, and I revisited it often throughout the analysis and the write-up periods. The notes provided me a mechanism to articulate my thoughts and perspectives, and they allowed me

Discussion

The coding process took place between July 2020 and September 2020. During this time, I consistently updated my notebook to reflect on the thoughts and emotions that arose in reaction to what I was reading. This process allowed me to clarify why some entries had a more powerful effect on me as an adult than others. As a result of this analysis, I explored three key aspects about myself that would not have been clear to me had I not conducted this investigation.

Firstly, some of the recurring

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Girija Kaimal for her guidance while I refined this manuscript.

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