Therapists' perceptions of altruistic patient behaviour upon the treatment outcomes of borderline personality disorder
- Authors: Kotton, Vikki
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Borderline personality disorder -- Treatment , Altruism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/8013 , vital:24450
- Description: Professionals in the mental health industry often attach a stigma to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It is commonly thought of as a frustrating disorder to treat. As a result many professionals avoid dealing with BPD individuals. In an attempt to promote positive treatment outcomes, the aim of the study is to explore how the introduction of altruistic behaviours would affect the outcome of the overall treatment of individuals with BPD. Snowball sampling procedures were implemented. Data were collected through the use of semi-structured interviews with six mental health professionals and analysed through qualitative data processing and thematic analysis procedures. To the researcher’s knowledge, no research has been conducted specifically exploring the relationship between altruistic behaviour and BPD to date. The following superordinate themes emerged: treatment challenges, treatment context, treatment approach, diagnostic challenges, altruism/prosocial influences, and altruism/prosocial behaviour. It is the researcher’s hope that the findings of this study will increase awareness of this possible avenue in the treatment of BPD, so that the results of this study can then be taken to the next level of exploration in research and in clinical practice.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Prosocial behaviour in South African students a qualitative enquiry
- Authors: Cholerton, Steven M
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: Helping behavior , Interpersonal relations , Altruism , Social ethics , College students -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:2948 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002457 , Helping behavior , Interpersonal relations , Altruism , Social ethics , College students -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Description: The central aim of this study was to conduct a qualitative exploration of the prosocial inclinations possessed by young South African students. The literature review argues that traditional approaches to moral responding separate the individual from the social. An alternative approach that reinstates language and ideology is delineated. It is argued that such a paradigm is most appropriate to a study of prosocial responding during a period of social change. Hypothetical moral dilemmas were administered to twenty-nine students. Six students were selected and each was interviewed on two separate occasions. In this way six case studies were developed. The methodological traditions of phenomenology and hermeneutics were employed to analyze the protocols and subsequent interviews. Seven themes descriptive of a moral response were identified. These consisted of moral reasoning, empathy, mood, guilt, alienation, a sense of group-identity, and ambiguity regarding the relative interests of self versus other. These themes are fully discussed in terms of the literature. It is concluded that moral reasoning may be insufficient to motivate prosocial behaviour. Conventional moral narratives may be appropriated in order to make sense of conflicting emotions. Empathy was identified as a necessary but not sufficient condition for a prosocial response. Empathy might translate into either sympathy or personal distress. Mood was found to largely dictate attentional focus. Alienation was found to be a defensive formulation that inhibits the emergence of sympathy. Guilt might precipitate an alienated posture. It was found that guilt might be attributed to group-identity and thereby denied. Tension between a self- and other-oriented response, or between blame and sympathy, was common. It is suggested that this ambiguity reflects ideological contradictions that have been internalized. It is postulated that during periods of social change such contradictions are accentuated.
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- Date Issued: 1995