Wozniak Eleanor Elizabeth, Hare Dougal Julian, Gregg Lynsey, Wittkowski Anja
Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Perinatal Mental Health and Parenting (PRIME) Research Unit, Greater Manchester Mental Health National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 4;16:1431798. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1431798. eCollection 2025.
Mental health is influenced by how we perceive ourselves and others. A person's conceptual structure and how he/she understands and makes sense of the world can be explored using the repertory grid technique (RGT), an assessment tool derived from personal construct theory. This review aimed to a) draw together relevant literature that had implemented the RGT to explore the conceptual system of a person diagnosed with a mental health condition necessitating psychiatric admission, b) synthesise research findings related to the structure and content of the conceptual system, and c) provide insights into how inpatient service users construed themselves and others to inform therapeutic practice.
A systematic search of five electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science) and thesis databases (EThOS and ProQuest), alongside manual searches in relevant articles and Google Scholar, was conducted. Included studies were appraised for methodological quality using the Quality Assessment Tool for Studies with Diverse Designs.
Twenty-one studies were identified and analysed using narrative synthesis. Of these 21 studies, 12 intentionally used a comparison group and compared the conceptual systems of people with different mental health diagnoses or compared conceptual systems of people with and without a diagnosed mental health condition. Findings from comparison group studies suggested that the self-esteem of a person diagnosed with a mental health condition was lower, compared to a person with no identified mental health diagnoses. Other people were typically idealised by people experiencing mental ill health; however, this finding was not observed in the experience of depression. Cognitive complexity, conceptual structure, and construing were variable across mental health conditions. Conceptual structures that were "simple" and characterised by "tight" construing were consistent with the profile of people with a mental health diagnosis, except for people with schizophrenia spectrum and psychotic disorders.
The structure of a conceptual system differed in people with and without a mental health condition and across mental health diagnoses. Considerations for how the review findings could inform psychological therapy and suggestions for future research are offered.
心理健康受到我们如何看待自己和他人的影响。一个人的概念结构以及他/她如何理解世界并赋予其意义，可以通过 repertory grid 技术（RGT）来探索，这是一种源自个人建构理论的评估工具。本综述旨在：a）汇集实施 RGT 以探索被诊断患有需要精神科住院治疗的心理健康状况的人的概念系统的相关文献；b）综合与概念系统的结构和内容相关的研究结果；c）深入了解住院服务使用者如何看待自己和他人，以为治疗实践提供参考。
对五个电子数据库（MEDLINE、EMBASE、PsycINFO、CINAHL 和 Web of Science）和论文数据库（EThOS 和 ProQuest）进行系统检索，并在相关文章和谷歌学术中进行手动检索。使用《多种设计研究质量评估工具》对纳入研究的方法学质量进行评估。
通过叙述性综合分析确定并分析了 21 项研究。在这 21 项研究中，12 项有意使用了对照组，比较了不同心理健康诊断患者的概念系统，或比较了有和没有诊断出心理健康状况的人的概念系统。对照组研究的结果表明，与未确诊心理健康问题的人相比，被诊断患有心理健康状况的人的自尊较低。患有精神疾病的人通常会将他人理想化；然而，在抑郁症患者的经历中未观察到这一发现。认知复杂性、概念结构和理解在不同心理健康状况下各不相同。除了精神分裂症谱系和精神障碍患者外，以“简单”和“紧密”理解为特征的概念结构与心理健康诊断患者的特征相符。
有和没有心理健康状况的人以及不同心理健康诊断的人的概念系统结构存在差异。文中提供了关于综述结果如何为心理治疗提供参考的思考以及对未来研究的建议。
