People
Dorthe Kirkegaard Thomsen
I work from the assumption that narrative is a key process in how individuals make sense of themselves and other people. Variations in how people construct narratives shape a range of outcomes, including well-being, interpersonal closeness, prosocial behavior, and coping with adversity such as mental illness. With this starting point, I research a range of topics, including how individuals use their memory to create coherent past and future life stories, how they construct vicarious stories about other people and the functions of these stories, and how narrative identity interacts with mental illness and personal recovery. I apply experimental, diary, and survey methodologies and have recently developed an interest in qualitative approaches. I believe the insights we achieve in our work can benefit the general public as well as various professional groups, and I gladly accept invitations to share our research with relevant stakeholders.
Dela Sawatzki
"When you meet a new person, one of the first questions is often ‘what do you do’ and it often becomes synonymous with who you are."
In my PhD project I investigate the relation between identity and resilience at work. I use the Work Life Story interview to understand people’s narrative work identity. I focus mainly on teachers in Germany and the school as a work environment. I use quantitative as well as qualitative methods in my study and contribute to resilience research by applying a narrative identity perspective. I believe that work, including the particular job, work environment and colleagues, is a huge part of everyone’s identity which is illustrated by the above quote of one of my participants.
Marie Tranberg Hansen
In my Ph.D. project, I examine the relationship between suicidality and narrative identity. Specifically, I focus on the emotional qualities of past and future life story chapters in individuals with different levels of suicide risk, aiming to uncover possible impacts of narrative identity on suicidality. I believe that adopting a narrative identity perspective can provide novel insights in the field of suicide research, with the potential to enhance treatment approaches in suicide prevention and other healthcare services.
Annicha Louise W Kristensen
I am a master student who is currently developing a research project on gaming narratives. It is of great interest to me, to explore how technologies affect us. I am particularly interested in the gaming research field, being a gamer myself. It intrigues me that our knowledge of how gaming affects us is still quite limited, even though so many people play video games today. I have combined my passion for gaming with my interest in the narrative research field. I believe a narrative approach may be useful to shed light on some of the many unexplored aspects of gaming and how it affects our lives.
Close collaborators
Majse Lind
Majse Lind is an assistant professor at Aalborg University, Denmark. She studies personality and personality pathology with a main focus on narrative identity, mentalization, and mechanisms of change in psychotherapy.
Website: https://vbn.aau.dk/en/persons/152551
Lennart Kiel
Lennart Kiel is a graduate student at Aarhus University, Denmark. His research focuses on the interplay between personality and identity, and how they influence social functioning in everyday life.
Henrik Marschall
My research revolves around understanding chronic pain and its impact, primarily in people suffering from endometriosis. My projects include examinations of a) patient- and clinician-perspectives, b) relationships between illness narratives and mental health, and c) medical research related to endometriosis. For my PhD, I am conducting a randomized, controlled surgical trial to assess the pain-relieving effect of surgery for peritoneal endometriosis, as well as an exploration of the patient- and clinician-perspectives on receiving and administering surgery for endometriosis, respectively.
Tine Holm
Tine studies memory, life stories, and identity in individuals with severe mental illness. She is also involved in research on self-injury, coercion in psychiatric healthcare, and trauma-informed care. In addition to her research, she works as a clinical psychologist in an outpatient unit for individuals with dual diagnoses i.e. co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse. Tine studies memory, life stories, and identity in individuals with severe mental illness. She is also involved in research on self-injury, coercion in psychiatric healthcare, and trauma-informed care. In addition to her research, she works as a clinical psychologist in an outpatient unit for individuals with dual diagnoses i.e. co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse.
Rikke Jensen
Rikke Jensen received her Ph.d. in psychology from Aarhus University in 2020. In her Ph.d., she examined narrative identity and well-being in aging and in psychopathology. She continues to work on narrative identity and psychopathology and is especially involved in healthcare research related to involvement of patients and relatives in research and mental healthcare, involvement of children in adult mental healthcare, involvement of peerworkers in mental health care, and development and implementation of complex healthcare interventions. She is also devoted to educational research, where she involves patients and their stories to mitigate stigma related to mental health issues. Rikke is currently employed as assistant professor at the Center for Involvement of Relatives, Mental Healthcare Services, Region of Southern Denmark, and the Institute for Regional Health Research, University of Southern Denmark.
Anne Mai Pedersen
Anne Mai Pedersen received her Ph.D. in psychology from Aarhus University in 2022. In her studies she investigated narrative identity and self-understanding in chronic mental and somatic illness. After her Ph.D. she continues researching in the fields of narrative identity, quality of life, and psychological and interdisciplinary intervention in chronic illness populations. Anne Mai is currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, and as a clinical psychologist at the National Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital.
National partners
Skejby University Hospital
Recoveryskolen, Aarhus Muncipality
Unit for Bereavement Research, Aarhus University
Happy Lab, Aarhus University
PsykInfo Region of Southern Denmark.
International collaborators
Jonathan Adler, Olin College of Engineering
Michele Anne, Taylor's University
Jack Bauer, University of Dayton
Susan Bluck, University of Florida
Robyn Fivush, Emory University
Dan McAdams, Northwestern University
David Pillemer, University of New Hampshire
Mike Slade, University of Nottingham
Kristina Steiner, Denison University