Suffering as Identity and Love as Moral Exception: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of Twisted Love
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47679/jopp.8415702026Keywords:
Contemporary Romance Fiction, Cultural Psychology, Reflexive Thematic Analysis, Trauma and Healing, Twisted Love, popular romance fiction, trauma narratives, relational identity, moral disengagement, cultural scripts of intimacyAbstract
Although trauma, emotional regulation, and interpersonal relationships are widely examined in research, the psychological meanings embedded in popular fiction remain underexplored. This qualitative study employs reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) to analyse Twisted Love by Ana Huang as a psychologically meaningful cultural text. Four interrelated themes were constructed: pain as identity and resistance to healing, longing to be held without having to perform, loving through moral exception and destructive devotion, and reclaiming the self by refusing internalised blame. Results show how literary depictions of love emphasise suffering as identity, desire for unconditional acceptance, moral superiority, and self-reclamation by denying responsibility. These themes highlight moral disengagement in close relationships, attachment vulnerabilities, meaning-oriented coping, and agency in healing. It emphasises the importance of phenomenological and narrative approaches to comprehend intimacy, trauma, and selfhood outside of diagnostic or moralistic frameworks, enhancing understanding of how people actively create, defend, and change their inner worlds.
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