Delusion as Narrative Figure: A Multi-Level Analysis of ARA’s Case Integrating a Psychiatric Interview, Computational Semantics, and Autobiographical Writing

This paper presents a case study of a young woman, ARA (alias of her real name), diagnosed with schizophrenia. This study integrates computational semantic analysis of a recorded interview and her autobiographical novel A Thread to the Sky. We argue that delusion in this case functions not as semantic failure, but as a symbolic and narrative figure through which the subject attempts to reorganize a disorganized self. By combining natural language processing (NLP) techniques, topic modeling, and narrative hermeneutics, we show how ARA’s discourse is richly structured, thematically coherent, and interwoven with her personal symbolic tradition.