Illness Narratives and Patient Experiences

Catalog description

What is illness? How do patients articulate discomfort, pain, and suffering? How do patients turn these at times idiosyncratic complaints into a coherent narrative that resonates with other patients suffering from similar conditions? Who listens to these narratives, and are these experiences taken seriously? This course examines the process of healing, living with chronic illness, and dying through stories and voices from patients. While the individual experiences of patients matter, this course also examines how broader social structures come to shape accounts of health and illness.