Abstract
This study examined how people with "mental diseases" construct their intra- and interpersonal self-images in terms of
their experiences related to "mental disease". In general, the notion of "mental disease" rests on application of the
medical model to psychological phenomena. In this study, however, the author analyzed experiences related to
"mental disease" from a perspective that viewed such experiences as "illnesses" that could be addressed with a
narrative approach. The results identified nine concepts pertinent to the participants’ self-images, which were
embedded in two qualitatively different types of relationships. Individuals with "mental diseases" seem to construct
their self-images by being conscious of the social definition of "normal" in existent notions of disease and recovery
and their own notions of "normal" depending on the particular relational context of those two types of relationships.
According to these self-images, such individuals seem to create and resolve conflicts and assign meanings that
facilitate their lives.
