Weiste2021a

From emcawiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Weiste2021a
BibType INCOLLECTION
Key Weiste2021a
Author(s) Elina Weiste
Title Building an intersubjective understanding of the patient’s mental suffering
Editor(s) Jan Lindström, Ritva Laury, Anssi Peräkylä, Marja-Leena Sorjonen
Tag(s) EMCA, Intersubjectivity, Conversation analysis
Publisher John Benjamins
Year 2021
Language English
City Amsterdam
Month
Journal
Volume
Number
Pages 183-199
URL Link
DOI
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title Intersubjectivity in Action: Studies in language and social interaction
Chapter

Download BibTex

Abstract

The experience of suffering may result in a breakdown of commonly shared meaning, namely the disintegration of intersubjectivity. This article investigates patients’ expressions of suffering and professionals’ attempts to maintain intersubjective understanding in interactions that are conducted in psychiatric outpatient care. The analysis demonstrates that patients’ expressions of suffering involve a strong emotional experience and a particular kind of passivity: tolerance of agonising pain and endurance of what is unbearable. For their part, professionals attempt to verbalise and explain the patient’s experience in order to build a shared world of meaning. The article argues that by locating suffering in the symptoms of an illness, professionals structure suffering into a medical problem. This enables them to suggest appropriate treatment options aimed at eliminating suffering.

Notes