{"links":{"self":"http://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/API/grants/DE260100226"},"data":{"type":"grant-details","id":"DE260100226","attributes":{"code":"DE260100226","administering-organisation":"Macquarie University","announcement-administering-organisation":"Macquarie University","scheme-name":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","grant-status":"Active","funding-commencement-year":2026,"years-funded":3,"project-start-date":"2026-01-01","anticipated-end-date":"2028-12-31","grant-summary":"Writing Therapy: Narrative Writing and the Making of Mental Health. This project provides a new literary history of psychological knowledge in the second half of the twentieth century, examining the decline of psychoanalysis and the rise of the cognitive therapies. It aims to generate novel insights into the enduring success of therapeutic and self-help writing, as well as the historical development of various vocabularies of well-being. Expected outcomes include an interdisciplinary methodology combining literary, psychological, and cultural history, and the curation of new narrative sources documenting the post-1950s history of psychology. This project is crucial for helping Australians understand the history behind the therapeutic literature with which they engage today.","funding-current":516001.00,"funding-at-announcement":511892,"investigators-current":[{"title":"Dr","firstName":"Christian","familyName":"Gelder","roleName":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","roleCode":"DECRA","isFellowship":true,"orcidIdentifier":"0000-0003-3579-5993 "}],"investigators-at-announcement":[{"title":"Dr","firstName":"Christian","familyName":"Gelder","roleName":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","roleCode":"DECRA","isFellowship":true,"orcidIdentifier":"0000-0003-3579-5993 "}],"organisations-current":[{"organisationName":"Macquarie University","roleName":"Administering Organisation","state":"NSW"}],"organisations-at-announcement":[{"organisationName":"Macquarie University","roleName":"Administering Organisation","state":"NSW"}],"field-of-research":[{"isPrimary":true,"code":"4705","name":"Literary Studies","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"470514","name":"Literary Theory","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"470523","name":"North American Literature","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"500204","name":"History and Philosophy of Science","type":"FOR20"}],"socio-economic-objective":[{"code":"130203","name":"Literature","type":"SEO20"},{"code":"280116","name":"Expanding Knowledge In Language, Communication and Culture","type":"SEO20"},{"code":"280123","name":"Expanding Knowledge In Human Society","type":"SEO20"}],"international-collaboration":["England","United States of America"],"lief-register":[],"achievement-summary":null,"national-interest-test-statement":"Despite declining book sales, mental health memoirs and self-help literature remain remarkably popular, with Australians looking to therapeutic literature for advice on how to live. However, different works of literature represent varying ideals of mental health and well-being, and are also informed by distinct conceptions of psychological knowledge. At the same time, the major shifts that have defined psychology from the 1950s onwards have often been communicated via literary and narrative writing, demonstrating how psychological science and literary history have developed alongside one another. This project will deliver the first comprehensive literary history of the decline of psychoanalysis and the rise of the cognitive therapies in the mid-twentieth century, which will help students, academics and the broader public understand the history that lies behind mental health communication and therapeutic writing. It will have social and cultural benefits for the Australian community by helping Australians understand how different ideals of mental health have been represented across different aesthetic forms, from mid-century psychiatric memoirs to current works of self-help. It will disseminate its results through public-facing and scholarly writing, workshops, seminars and symposiums, as well as an ongoing podcast and video series designed for the general public. This will engage diverse audiences across Australia, maximising the public adoption of the project’s findings."}}}