The process of psychology development is a challenging goal that is often restricted by the factors that the community poses Since the application of theoretical knowledge to practical problems requires a successful and comprehensive problem management technique to be closely familiar to the environment in which one sets their jokes and expects people to be accepting of them.The connection between the historical truth and the narrative truth is quite tenuous, yet there is the link between the two representations of reality.
While the historical truth reflects the events that actually took place and have possibly been recorded or have any other piece of evidence about themselves, the narrative truth is the information represented by one of the participants, typically in verbal form (Kuhn, 1962). The distinction between the historical truth and the narrative one may be lost, yet the difference between the two concepts remains quite clear (Danziger, 2011). Apart from having evidently different sources of narrative, each of the types of truth gallows one to create a system of tests based on which the logical faculties and the mental health of an individual can be tested.
Although the presence of evidence-based narrative as a critical part of any process of data management should not evoke any concerns, the narrative truth cannot be taken at its face value when performing an analysis of a patient’s needs and establishing thee approaches toward addressing a specific mental health concern. However, dismissing the intrinsic value of the narrative truth would also imply making a significant omission in managing the needs of patients and performing the required intervention. Namely, the focus on the narrative truth and the selective tools used by an individual when describing a particular event in their life may lead to the development of an understanding about the nature of a mental health issue that a patient may have (Danziger, 1997).
As a result, the strategies for addressing the selected concern and assisting a patient in fighting their delusion will become possible. In the described scenario, the role of the historical truth can be defined as purely referential since it serves as the foil for performing an analysis of the veracity of a patient’s statement (Danziger, 2010).Thus, one may come to the conclusion that each type of the truth is critical in managing a health concern at hand, yet the roles that these types of truth play in the identification of health concerns and the development of a coping strategy are quite different and unique.
It is also important for a healthcare practitioner to consider the factors that persuade a patient to deviate from the historical truth and create the narrative one that will represent a warped perception of reality. For this purpose, the integration of the sociocultural analysis and the assessment of the issues that may influence one’s choice to follow the social prescriptions for a particular gender role are needed.
The proposed perspective will help one to build the approach toward nursing that will suggest a comprehensive analysis of psychological issues. Namely, psychology will be perceived as a system of knowledge and ideas that are utilized to reflect the objective reality and assist patients in understanding the changes in the perception thereof, as well as the cause for these changes (Drob, 2003). With the incorporation of the specified change into the psychological practice, one will maintain the ability to meet patients’ needs by understanding their narrative better.
When considering the issue of the historical and narrative truth, one should also mention the importance of being able to differentiate between the two notions instantly and provide appropriate intervention tools. While being essential for a psychologist in locating a mental health issue and identifying an appropriate intervention, may pose a significant problem due to the differences in the perspective on the objective reality and its perception. The concern regarding the probability of a misunderstanding between a patient and a psychologist and the failure of the latter to differentiate between the historical and narrative truth dates back to Ancient Greece, when the notion of skepticism was coined (Fechner, 1860).
According to the foundational principles of skepticism, anything and everything can and should be questioned in pursuit of the ultimate truth (Broca, 1861). Created by Plato and perfected by Socrates, the approach under analysis implies that the notion of justified knowledge as the one that is rooted in epistemic information is the only information to be trusted (Leahey, 2017). Approaching the data provided by patients form the specified standpoint, one will be able to differentiate between the narrative and historical truth, thus locating the nature of a particular psychological issue and developing treatment options based on the results of the assessment.
At the same time, the ability to delineate the difference between the historical and narrative truth may require the integration of a more sophisticated analysis. By introducing the idea underlying the allegory of the cave into the psychological analysis, one will create premises for questioning the legitimacy of any data other than the information obtained in the course of practice (Leahey, 2017). As a result, one will be able to n navigate between the elements of what Plato defined as the allegory of the line and understand how objects are interpreted and represented once the patient’s perception is affected by their state of mind.
Integrating the skills associated with intelligence, knowledge, and thinking, one will be able to evade the influence of imagined ideas, prejudices, and preconceived notions (Benjamin, 2009). Consequently, one will be able to approach the information represented as narrative truth. Thus, the process of the psychological analysis will become possible once the knowledge within every domain is systematized and represented as a system of ideas.
The incorporation of the analysis of the historical truth as a part of the objective reality will also allow developing an insight into the factors that may have convinced a patient to distort it to create the narrative truth that deviates significantly fro, the facts. For example, Weinbaum (1999) explains that the use of the narrative truth could be seen as the coping mechanism developed by Jews during the Holocaust: “Dorit, like Greenspan’s subjects who had survived the trauma of the Holocaust, had a need to “make a story” in which she exhibited her need to negate an earlier personal annihilation and negation” (Weinbaum, 1999, para. 33).
Therefore, when approaching the issue of the narrative truth as a juxtaposition to the historical one, one may stumble upon the need to address the phenomenon as a direct result of the collective trauma that may have developed due to specific historical factors. With the understanding of how historical facts may warp one’s sense of reality perception and affect the development of one’s identity, a psychologist will be able to address a patient’s immediate and long-term needs by introducing an appropriate intervention and pointing to the problems in the selected coping mechanisms.
Given the outlined difference between narrative and historical truth, one will have to concede that psychology as a combination of ideas that are expected to represent an approach toward one’s emotional and mental development. In addition, psychology can be viewed as a system of ideas implies balancing between the representation of objective reality through the lens of patients’ perspective and the analysis thereof as a clear, undiluted phenomenon (Danziger, 2013).
For this reason, the constant shift between the introduction of the objective perspective as a reference tool and the assessment of a patent’s interpretation of its meaning is completely indispensable. Without the perspective that allows one to provide an objective assessment of the situation, the further process of healing becomes impossible, mostly because a patient will be unable to focus on the correct representation of objective reality.
By using the difference between objective reality and the personal truth told by a patient, a nurse will have to examine the outcomes of the decision to resemble those that are expected of nursing experts in the context of a particular scenario and that involve the application of appropriate skills. Placing the emphasis on the essential values that one should uphold, as well as the principles that are traditionally associated with the management of gender-related concerns (Blumenthal, 1975). Therefore, the integration of the analysis of both narrative and historical truth is critical for the identification of patient-related concerns and the effective management thereof in the future.
References
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Blumenthal, A. (1975). A reappraisal of Wilhelm Wundt. Web.
Broca, P. (1861). On the speech center. Web.
Danziger, K. (1997). Naming the mind: How psychology found its language. London: Sage.
Danziger, K. (2010). Problematic encounters: Talks on psychology and history. London: Sage.
Danziger, K. (2011). Hyper-loops or ten minute musings from the rocking chair. London: Sage.
Danziger, K. (2013). Psychology and its history. Theory & Psychology, 23(6), 829-839.
Drob, S. (2003). Fragmentation in psychology: A dialectical solution. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 43(4), 102-123.
Fechner, G. T. (1860). Elements of psychophysics. (Trans. by Herbert S. Langfeld, first appearing in B. Rand (Ed.) (1912), The classical psychologists). Web.
Kuhn, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.
Leahey, T. (1981) The mistaken mirror: On Wundt and Titchner’s psychologies. Web.
Leahey, T. H. (2017). A history of psychology: From antiquity to modernity. Routledge.