I do discourse analysis. For me it means that I explore how people discursively construct their experiences. I pay particular attention to linguistic forms they use (see my ‘manifesto‘). My research is at the juncture of two disciplines: linguistics and psychology. I researched how people boast, construct their identities, or talk about their emotions. Lately, I’ve been particularly interested in the experience of mental illness and stories of suicide.
I view experience of mental illness through the ill person’s narrative. I take the qualitative, bottom-up perspective, focusing on stories of suffering. I explore predominantly men’s stories; how men and masculinity are represented as interacting with mental illness and suicide. Lately, I’ve written on men’s depression (Men’s Discourses of Depression, Palgrave, 2008), fathers’ experiences of mental illness (Fathers, Fatherhood and Mental Illness, Palgrave, 2013). I’ve just published a book on men’s suicide notes (Discourses of Men’s Suicide Notes, Bloomsbury, 2017).