The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, And The Human Condition / Edition 1

by Arthur Kleinman

Overview

Based on twenty years of clinical experience studying and treating chronic illness, a Harvard psychiatrist and anthropologist argues that diagnosing illness is an art tragically neglected by modern medical training, and presents a compelling case for bridging the gap between patient and doctor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465032044
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	10/02/1989
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.15(w) x 8.05(h) x 1.15(d)
Lexile:	1380L (what's this?)

About the Author

Arthur Kleinman is professor of medical anthropology in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is also the Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University. A member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Kleinman is the author of numerous books, including Patients and Healers, Deep China, and What Really Matters.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Preface to the 2020 Edition xvii

Acknowledgments xxiii

Authors Note xxv

1 The Meaning of Symptoms and Disorders 1

2 The Personal and Social Meanings of Illness 29

3 The Vulnerability of Pain and the Pain of Vulnerability 55

4 The Pain of Living 75

5 Chronic Pain: The Frustrations of Desire 89

6 Neurasthenia: Weakness and Exhaustion in the United States and China 103

7 Conflicting Explanatory Models in the Care of the Chronically III 127

8 Aspiration and Victory: Coping with Chronic Illness 145

9 Illness unto Death 155

10 The Stigma and Shame of Illness 169

11 The Social Context of Chronicity 183

12 The Creation of Disease: Factitious Illness 201

13 Hypochondriasis: The Ironic Disease 209

14 The Healers: Varieties of Experience in Doctoring 227

15 A Method for the Care of the Chronically Ill 251

16 The Challenge of a Meaning-Centered Model for Medical Education and Practice 277

References 293

Index 301

Editorial Reviews

"Kleinman infuses the theme with fresh insights and 'empathic witnessing,' through the use of narrative, the stories of pain and suffering that give form and meaning to the experience of illness."—Elinor Lenz, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A major contribution to the care techniques for the chronically ill."—JAMA

"Thought-provoking...touching...much needed by practicing physicians. It is a must for residents and worthwhile reading for all medical students."—New England Journal of Medicine

"If more physicians had Dr. Kleinman's ability to see and respond to all of the patient's needs, we would not have the mistrust of doctors that now pervades our society."
—Melvin Konner, M.D., PH.D., author of Becoming a Doctor

"There is no one who knows more or writes more interestingly than Arthur Kleinman about the fundamental place of the meaning of illness in the lives of sick persons."
—Eric J. Cassell, M.D., Cornell University Medical College

From the Publisher