摘要：This study explored the illness experience of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to widen
narrative research on patients’ perspectives, adopting object relations theory as interpretative
framework. A qualitative phenomenological analysis was conducted on the illness stories of 12 adult
Italian patients with ALS, collected through an Internet-based database for the sharing of illness
experiences of people with rare and chronic degenerative diseases. Three thematic areas were
identified: “the experience of ALS from symptom onset to diagnosis”, “impact of illness”, and “coping
with illness”. Overall, the central conflict experienced by people with ALS refers to the progressive
loss of control on bodily experience, that is handled by means of denial and splitting defences to
contrast such a process of somatic depersonalization. As well, the investment on interpersonal domain
responds to a repairing strategy ensuring psychic vitality and sensorial integration to rebuild the relation
between the self and the external world.
