Michael M. Delmonte
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198521945
- eISBN:
- 9780191688478
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198521945.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter reviews research which has examined personality changes associated with meditation practice. It presents a hierarchy of studies based on their methodological ...
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This chapter reviews research which has examined personality changes associated with meditation practice. It presents a hierarchy of studies based on their methodological sophistication and shows that most research interest has focused on the effects of meditation on anxiety. It reviews and presents conclusions about research examining the effects of meditation on anxiety, self-esteem, self-actualization, locus of control, introversion-extraversion, depression, and psychosomatic symptomatology. The chapter cautions that the causes of personality change associated with meditation practice cannot be attributed to meditation itself (as opposed to other non-specific factors) until more sophisticated research is conducted.Less
This chapter reviews research which has examined personality changes associated with meditation practice. It presents a hierarchy of studies based on their methodological sophistication and shows that most research interest has focused on the effects of meditation on anxiety. It reviews and presents conclusions about research examining the effects of meditation on anxiety, self-esteem, self-actualization, locus of control, introversion-extraversion, depression, and psychosomatic symptomatology. The chapter cautions that the causes of personality change associated with meditation practice cannot be attributed to meditation itself (as opposed to other non-specific factors) until more sophisticated research is conducted.
Ralph Colp Jr. M.D.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032313
- eISBN:
- 9780813039237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032313.003.0024
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
In 1974, two English doctors—Sir Hedley Atkins and Professor George Pickering—published books containing chapters on the symptoms and causations of Charles Darwin's illness, stating that Darwin had a ...
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In 1974, two English doctors—Sir Hedley Atkins and Professor George Pickering—published books containing chapters on the symptoms and causations of Charles Darwin's illness, stating that Darwin had a psychosomatic illness caused by his evolutionary theory. Sir Hedley depicted Darwin's interaction with his theory. On the other hand, Professor Pickering postulated that “the cause of Darwin's psychoneurosis was the conflict between his passionate desire to collect convincing evidence for his hypothesis and the threat imposed on his work by social intercourse”. It is believed that Darwin's mental conflicts and the controversial nature of the subject he was working on could have resulted in his becoming ill without Chagas', but such an illness may have been less severe than the illness he had.Less
In 1974, two English doctors—Sir Hedley Atkins and Professor George Pickering—published books containing chapters on the symptoms and causations of Charles Darwin's illness, stating that Darwin had a psychosomatic illness caused by his evolutionary theory. Sir Hedley depicted Darwin's interaction with his theory. On the other hand, Professor Pickering postulated that “the cause of Darwin's psychoneurosis was the conflict between his passionate desire to collect convincing evidence for his hypothesis and the threat imposed on his work by social intercourse”. It is believed that Darwin's mental conflicts and the controversial nature of the subject he was working on could have resulted in his becoming ill without Chagas', but such an illness may have been less severe than the illness he had.
William A. Richards and G. William Barnard
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231174060
- eISBN:
- 9780231540919
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174060.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Psychopharmacology
Difficult psychedelic experiences.
Difficult psychedelic experiences.
Maureen Duffy and Len Sperry
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195380019
- eISBN:
- 9780199932764
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380019.003.0008
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter presents the extensive and growing body of research linking negative physical and psychological health outcomes to exposure to mobbing and other abusive workplace behaviors. A ...
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This chapter presents the extensive and growing body of research linking negative physical and psychological health outcomes to exposure to mobbing and other abusive workplace behaviors. A comprehensive overview of evidence-based health outcomes of school and workplace mobbing and bullying is presented in table form and lists the researchers, study design, country in which the study was conducted, and findings related to health consequences for each of the multiple studies presented. Physical disorders, psychological symptoms and disorders, and psychosomatic and psychosocial symptoms identified as occurring in relation to exposure to mobbing are reviewed and discussed. It is proposed that the evidence presented strongly suggests that being mobbed is a risk factor for physical and/or psychological health problems of varying severity, making mobbing a public health issue that cannot be ignored.Less
This chapter presents the extensive and growing body of research linking negative physical and psychological health outcomes to exposure to mobbing and other abusive workplace behaviors. A comprehensive overview of evidence-based health outcomes of school and workplace mobbing and bullying is presented in table form and lists the researchers, study design, country in which the study was conducted, and findings related to health consequences for each of the multiple studies presented. Physical disorders, psychological symptoms and disorders, and psychosomatic and psychosocial symptoms identified as occurring in relation to exposure to mobbing are reviewed and discussed. It is proposed that the evidence presented strongly suggests that being mobbed is a risk factor for physical and/or psychological health problems of varying severity, making mobbing a public health issue that cannot be ignored.
Mathew Thomson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199287802
- eISBN:
- 9780191713378
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287802.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter analyses a key context for the previous two: the problem of industrial civilization. Psychology’s role as a tool of control and measurement is downplayed, this time through a case study ...
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This chapter analyses a key context for the previous two: the problem of industrial civilization. Psychology’s role as a tool of control and measurement is downplayed, this time through a case study of industrial psychology, its limitations, and its pretensions to humanism. The chapter also opens up the subject of interest in psychology in business and advertising, showing that workers too were excited by psychology, not just in self-development, but also for thinking about class. Finally, the chapter considers the mounting concern about work-related psychosomatic illness; barriers to the acceptance of this presented by class and attitudes towards masculinity; and the role of a somatic language of nerves and injury, as well as a class critique of mechanization and capitalism in overcoming resistance.Less
This chapter analyses a key context for the previous two: the problem of industrial civilization. Psychology’s role as a tool of control and measurement is downplayed, this time through a case study of industrial psychology, its limitations, and its pretensions to humanism. The chapter also opens up the subject of interest in psychology in business and advertising, showing that workers too were excited by psychology, not just in self-development, but also for thinking about class. Finally, the chapter considers the mounting concern about work-related psychosomatic illness; barriers to the acceptance of this presented by class and attitudes towards masculinity; and the role of a somatic language of nerves and injury, as well as a class critique of mechanization and capitalism in overcoming resistance.
Eric J. Cassell
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195156164
- eISBN:
- 9780199999880
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156164.003.0013
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making, Palliative Medicine and Older People
This chapter discusses and examines the question: how does the mind act on the body? It presents a thesis that pertains to meanings and the things people do, the former being essential to the latter. ...
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This chapter discusses and examines the question: how does the mind act on the body? It presents a thesis that pertains to meanings and the things people do, the former being essential to the latter. The chapter examines the concept of the mind, while considering the concept of disease to be misleading. It discusses psychosomatic medicine, how the activities of thought influence the body, the flow of meaning, coda, and the special case of preverbal children.Less
This chapter discusses and examines the question: how does the mind act on the body? It presents a thesis that pertains to meanings and the things people do, the former being essential to the latter. The chapter examines the concept of the mind, while considering the concept of disease to be misleading. It discusses psychosomatic medicine, how the activities of thought influence the body, the flow of meaning, coda, and the special case of preverbal children.
Christopher Eccleston
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198727903
- eISBN:
- 9780191814099
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198727903.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Health Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This book examines the ten neglected bodily senses that are rarely discussed. We grow up thinking there are five senses, but we forget about the ten neglected senses of the body that structure and ...
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This book examines the ten neglected bodily senses that are rarely discussed. We grow up thinking there are five senses, but we forget about the ten neglected senses of the body that structure and limit our experience. Physical senses are explored in ten chapters: balance, movement, pressure (acting in gravity), breathing, fatigue, pain, itch, temperature, appetite, and expulsion (the senses of physical matter leaving the body). For each sense, two people are interviewed who live with extreme experiences of the sense; their stories bring to life how far physical sensations matter to us and how much they define what is possible in our life. How physical sensation shapes behavior and how behavior is shaped by the experience of sensation are explored. A final chapter presents a theory of what is common across the physical senses. Our experience is always embodied, defined by our physical senses, and that embodied life is undertaken thoroughly embedded in a social, linguistic, and physical world.Less
This book examines the ten neglected bodily senses that are rarely discussed. We grow up thinking there are five senses, but we forget about the ten neglected senses of the body that structure and limit our experience. Physical senses are explored in ten chapters: balance, movement, pressure (acting in gravity), breathing, fatigue, pain, itch, temperature, appetite, and expulsion (the senses of physical matter leaving the body). For each sense, two people are interviewed who live with extreme experiences of the sense; their stories bring to life how far physical sensations matter to us and how much they define what is possible in our life. How physical sensation shapes behavior and how behavior is shaped by the experience of sensation are explored. A final chapter presents a theory of what is common across the physical senses. Our experience is always embodied, defined by our physical senses, and that embodied life is undertaken thoroughly embedded in a social, linguistic, and physical world.
Ralph Colp Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032313
- eISBN:
- 9780813039237
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032313.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The year 2009 marked the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. From 1840 to his death in 1882, Darwin was constantly plagued by ...
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The year 2009 marked the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. From 1840 to his death in 1882, Darwin was constantly plagued by chronic illnesses that allowed him to work only a few hours at a time and by an obsession with his physical health. Was this the psychosomatic product of stress resulting from the development and public reception to his theory of evolution or the result of a disease or parasite obtained during the world traveler's excursions? In 1977, the author of this volume argued persuasively for the former explanation in his book To Be an Invalid: The Illness of Charles Darwin, now out of print, but considered to be one of the century's most important works on Darwin's life. Expanding and reworking his earlier arguments to take into account new information (including Darwin's “Diary of Health”, included as an appendix), this book paints a more intimate portrait of the nature and possible causes of Darwin's lifelong illness, of the ways he and Victorian physicians tried treating it, and how it influenced his scientific work and relations with his family and friends.Less
The year 2009 marked the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. From 1840 to his death in 1882, Darwin was constantly plagued by chronic illnesses that allowed him to work only a few hours at a time and by an obsession with his physical health. Was this the psychosomatic product of stress resulting from the development and public reception to his theory of evolution or the result of a disease or parasite obtained during the world traveler's excursions? In 1977, the author of this volume argued persuasively for the former explanation in his book To Be an Invalid: The Illness of Charles Darwin, now out of print, but considered to be one of the century's most important works on Darwin's life. Expanding and reworking his earlier arguments to take into account new information (including Darwin's “Diary of Health”, included as an appendix), this book paints a more intimate portrait of the nature and possible causes of Darwin's lifelong illness, of the ways he and Victorian physicians tried treating it, and how it influenced his scientific work and relations with his family and friends.
Evelyne Steimer-krause, Rainer Krause, and Günter Wagner
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195179644
- eISBN:
- 9780199847044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179644.003.0022
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter presents the interaction regulations used by schizophrenic and psychosomatic patients. The healthy test subjects showed more facial activity, especially in the upper face. It was ...
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This chapter presents the interaction regulations used by schizophrenic and psychosomatic patients. The healthy test subjects showed more facial activity, especially in the upper face. It was possible to confirm the hypotheses regarding the differences in facial expressiveness between the patient groups and the healthy control group and the hypothesis that specific features are characteristic of particular pathologies. A study regarding the investigation of the dynamics of the affect system within social relationships, especially when one of the interaction partners is mentally ill, is given.Less
This chapter presents the interaction regulations used by schizophrenic and psychosomatic patients. The healthy test subjects showed more facial activity, especially in the upper face. It was possible to confirm the hypotheses regarding the differences in facial expressiveness between the patient groups and the healthy control group and the hypothesis that specific features are characteristic of particular pathologies. A study regarding the investigation of the dynamics of the affect system within social relationships, especially when one of the interaction partners is mentally ill, is given.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804750462
- eISBN:
- 9780804767446
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804750462.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, its depiction of the mutual influence of her “bleeding bowels” and mental suffering, and the implications of this gendering of ...
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This chapter examines Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, its depiction of the mutual influence of her “bleeding bowels” and mental suffering, and the implications of this gendering of love-melancholy as a form of hysteria for the poem's broader revision of romance. Here Glauce invokes the inward space of Britomart's body as the invisible site of a mysterious suffering, trying to conceal the real cause with obfuscating rhetoric. Spenser provides a more precise reference to the source of Britomart's suffering as her “love-sicke hart,” because Britomart is suffering from the female form of lovesickness or love-melancholy. This chapter analyzes the cultural and poetic significance of Britomart's “love-sick hart” by juxtaposing Spenser's descriptions of Britomart's psychosomatic suffering with contemporary medical accounts of female love-melancholy (also termed “uterine fury”) and its treatment. Finally, it looks at the house of Busirane as a complex allegorization of Scudamour's atra voluptas—a willfully indulged erotic suffering that holds the beloved (Amoret) prisoner by stripping her of any reality outside her lover's obsessive mind.Less
This chapter examines Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, its depiction of the mutual influence of her “bleeding bowels” and mental suffering, and the implications of this gendering of love-melancholy as a form of hysteria for the poem's broader revision of romance. Here Glauce invokes the inward space of Britomart's body as the invisible site of a mysterious suffering, trying to conceal the real cause with obfuscating rhetoric. Spenser provides a more precise reference to the source of Britomart's suffering as her “love-sicke hart,” because Britomart is suffering from the female form of lovesickness or love-melancholy. This chapter analyzes the cultural and poetic significance of Britomart's “love-sick hart” by juxtaposing Spenser's descriptions of Britomart's psychosomatic suffering with contemporary medical accounts of female love-melancholy (also termed “uterine fury”) and its treatment. Finally, it looks at the house of Busirane as a complex allegorization of Scudamour's atra voluptas—a willfully indulged erotic suffering that holds the beloved (Amoret) prisoner by stripping her of any reality outside her lover's obsessive mind.
Howard M. Ducharme
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199246601
- eISBN:
- 9780191697616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246601.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter argues that contemporary academic theology rejects the traditional soul, and that it does so at its peril. Rejection of the traditional soul entails rejection of the substantial image of ...
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This chapter argues that contemporary academic theology rejects the traditional soul, and that it does so at its peril. Rejection of the traditional soul entails rejection of the substantial image of God, which entails rejection of the irreducible moral nature and intrinsic moral value of persons. The fact that persons are essentially characterized by an irreducible moral capacity is the prerequisite for moral experience, moral development, conscience, ethical intuition, ethical principles, moral knowledge, moral responsibility, the moral sentiments, and personal relationships. As bearers of an inherent moral nature, we are beings that possess intrinsic moral value. Reason, ethics, and law therein have a first principle from which to work. Having an inescapable moral nature does not make a person inherently good — because goodness is a contingent, developmental character trait that results from the fitting exercise of one's moral agency. The holistic theory of persons rejects the substantial soul, believing that contemporary neuroscience and human genetics require as much. Such scientific capitulation is unwarranted and the reality of the moral identity of persons is utterly destroyed by the theologians' version of it — psychosomatic holism.Less
This chapter argues that contemporary academic theology rejects the traditional soul, and that it does so at its peril. Rejection of the traditional soul entails rejection of the substantial image of God, which entails rejection of the irreducible moral nature and intrinsic moral value of persons. The fact that persons are essentially characterized by an irreducible moral capacity is the prerequisite for moral experience, moral development, conscience, ethical intuition, ethical principles, moral knowledge, moral responsibility, the moral sentiments, and personal relationships. As bearers of an inherent moral nature, we are beings that possess intrinsic moral value. Reason, ethics, and law therein have a first principle from which to work. Having an inescapable moral nature does not make a person inherently good — because goodness is a contingent, developmental character trait that results from the fitting exercise of one's moral agency. The holistic theory of persons rejects the substantial soul, believing that contemporary neuroscience and human genetics require as much. Such scientific capitulation is unwarranted and the reality of the moral identity of persons is utterly destroyed by the theologians' version of it — psychosomatic holism.
Emma Williamson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861342157
- eISBN:
- 9781447302148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861342157.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
This chapter examines the types of injuries that the participating women sustained as a result of domestic violence and contextualises this data with information from other research. Making a ...
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This chapter examines the types of injuries that the participating women sustained as a result of domestic violence and contextualises this data with information from other research. Making a distinction between physical and non-physical injuries proved important in relation to the response of health practitioners as well as the women from stage one. Just as definitions of violence and abuse can be problematic, so too do women who experience domestic violence feel these contradictions. This is compounded by abuse, which has a non-physical health impact and results in injuries that cannot be seen either by the participating women or ‘others’.Less
This chapter examines the types of injuries that the participating women sustained as a result of domestic violence and contextualises this data with information from other research. Making a distinction between physical and non-physical injuries proved important in relation to the response of health practitioners as well as the women from stage one. Just as definitions of violence and abuse can be problematic, so too do women who experience domestic violence feel these contradictions. This is compounded by abuse, which has a non-physical health impact and results in injuries that cannot be seen either by the participating women or ‘others’.
Emma Williamson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861342157
- eISBN:
- 9781447302148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861342157.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
Part One identified the experiences of the stage-one participants in relation to their clinical interactions with healthcare professionals. A number of issues were acknowledged, including the extent ...
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Part One identified the experiences of the stage-one participants in relation to their clinical interactions with healthcare professionals. A number of issues were acknowledged, including the extent of physical and non-physical injuries that the participating women ascribed to the domestic violence they were experiencing. This chapter addresses those concerns from the perceptions of the stage-two participants. As such, it addresses the identification and diagnosis of physical and non-physical injuries within a number of contexts. The chapter considers psychosomatic complaints and para-suicide.Less
Part One identified the experiences of the stage-one participants in relation to their clinical interactions with healthcare professionals. A number of issues were acknowledged, including the extent of physical and non-physical injuries that the participating women ascribed to the domestic violence they were experiencing. This chapter addresses those concerns from the perceptions of the stage-two participants. As such, it addresses the identification and diagnosis of physical and non-physical injuries within a number of contexts. The chapter considers psychosomatic complaints and para-suicide.
Emma Williamson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861342157
- eISBN:
- 9781447302148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861342157.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
The stage-one participants' experiences of treatment were examined in Chapter Four. This identified a number of treatments that they had been offered, and examined how they perceived such treatment ...
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The stage-one participants' experiences of treatment were examined in Chapter Four. This identified a number of treatments that they had been offered, and examined how they perceived such treatment in relation to their wider health interactions. This chapter examines the treatment options that the participating healthcare professionals identified as central to their own clinical practice. It identifies how healthcare professionals are competent at identifying physical injuries, in some cases psychosomatic ones. The reluctance of practitioners to acknowledge the domestic-violence origins of para-suicide is worrying, but is consistent with international research that has examined domestic violence and health.Less
The stage-one participants' experiences of treatment were examined in Chapter Four. This identified a number of treatments that they had been offered, and examined how they perceived such treatment in relation to their wider health interactions. This chapter examines the treatment options that the participating healthcare professionals identified as central to their own clinical practice. It identifies how healthcare professionals are competent at identifying physical injuries, in some cases psychosomatic ones. The reluctance of practitioners to acknowledge the domestic-violence origins of para-suicide is worrying, but is consistent with international research that has examined domestic violence and health.
Bitte Modin and Viveca Östberg
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861347589
- eISBN:
- 9781447302483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861347589.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
This chapter investigates stress-related aspects of health, namely psychosomatic complaints and psychological wellbeing, using the demand-control-support model as the frame of reference and ...
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This chapter investigates stress-related aspects of health, namely psychosomatic complaints and psychological wellbeing, using the demand-control-support model as the frame of reference and self-reported data from a nationally representative sample of Swedish compulsory school pupils. It discusses the links between the welfare state and the school, and between the work environment and health. It studies how working conditions among adults are associated with psychosomatic and psychological complaints by using data representative of the Swedish child population and direct information from children themselves.Less
This chapter investigates stress-related aspects of health, namely psychosomatic complaints and psychological wellbeing, using the demand-control-support model as the frame of reference and self-reported data from a nationally representative sample of Swedish compulsory school pupils. It discusses the links between the welfare state and the school, and between the work environment and health. It studies how working conditions among adults are associated with psychosomatic and psychological complaints by using data representative of the Swedish child population and direct information from children themselves.
Joanna Kempner
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226179018
- eISBN:
- 9780226179292
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226179292.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
Headache disorders are often dismissed. Yet migraine is a serious problem for millions of people. Epidemiologists estimate that as many as 37 million adult Americans (or 12% of the adult population) ...
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Headache disorders are often dismissed. Yet migraine is a serious problem for millions of people. Epidemiologists estimate that as many as 37 million adult Americans (or 12% of the adult population) have migraine. How is it that a disorder can disrupt so many lives, yet seem so banal, unimportant and, ultimately, difficult to believe? This book addresses the complex relationship between this legitimacy deficit and the cultural organization of pain, describing the multiple and often contradictory symbols, images, metaphors, patterns, and meanings that the word “headache” evokes and explaining how these social meanings circulate and contribute to rules and conventions about pain. How have developments in medicine shaped the cultural meaning of migraine and, conversely, how has the cultural meaning of migraine shaped what medicines are made, how medicine is practiced and what knowledge about head pain is and is not produced? Drawing on ethnography, interview, and archival data, this book examines the political economy of pain, taking a close look at how the politics of gender and health affect three distinct, but tightly interconnected groups of stakeholders-physicians who specialize in headache treatment, patient advocates, and the pharmaceutical industry. Each plays a central role in motivating a paradigm shift in understanding headache from a psychological imaginary to the neurobiological real. The conclusion describes the constituent components of legitimacy, with special emphasis on how the gendering of migraine may prevent it from being taken seriously as a disorder.Less
Headache disorders are often dismissed. Yet migraine is a serious problem for millions of people. Epidemiologists estimate that as many as 37 million adult Americans (or 12% of the adult population) have migraine. How is it that a disorder can disrupt so many lives, yet seem so banal, unimportant and, ultimately, difficult to believe? This book addresses the complex relationship between this legitimacy deficit and the cultural organization of pain, describing the multiple and often contradictory symbols, images, metaphors, patterns, and meanings that the word “headache” evokes and explaining how these social meanings circulate and contribute to rules and conventions about pain. How have developments in medicine shaped the cultural meaning of migraine and, conversely, how has the cultural meaning of migraine shaped what medicines are made, how medicine is practiced and what knowledge about head pain is and is not produced? Drawing on ethnography, interview, and archival data, this book examines the political economy of pain, taking a close look at how the politics of gender and health affect three distinct, but tightly interconnected groups of stakeholders-physicians who specialize in headache treatment, patient advocates, and the pharmaceutical industry. Each plays a central role in motivating a paradigm shift in understanding headache from a psychological imaginary to the neurobiological real. The conclusion describes the constituent components of legitimacy, with special emphasis on how the gendering of migraine may prevent it from being taken seriously as a disorder.
Peter Henningsen and Heribert Sattel
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262035552
- eISBN:
- 9780262337120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035552.003.0020
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This paper presents data on significant cultural influences on pain related psychosocial work place conditions, one of the core issues of psycho-somatic medicine, and discusses consequences for a ...
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This paper presents data on significant cultural influences on pain related psychosocial work place conditions, one of the core issues of psycho-somatic medicine, and discusses consequences for a cultural neuroscience of pain.
Chronic pain encompasses the experience of the pain sensation itself and a whole universe of related emotions, thoughts, behaviors and suffering, whilst tissue damage is no necessary precondition for it. A biopsychosocial view on risk factors typically concentrates on the intra-individual level and includes genetic dispositions or injuries, e.g., whilst an embodied approach emphasizing the “body being in the world”, integrating cultural perspectives seems more appropriate. However, recent epidemiological work demonstrated the relevance of group level psychosocial risk factors for chronic pain. Lack of social support at work, injustice, high job strain and effort-reward imbalance are important here.
Nevertheless, even these perspectives do not capture all relevant differences: Studies in different societies reveal significant cultural influences, both in an “etic” and in an “emic” perspective. The link between culture and pain involves different aspects. Culturally shaped ways of world-making influence interpretation, labeling and treatment of distress. Now, additional knowledge on the relational biology of pain reveals, how culture determines differences in neural processes underlying emotion and pain experience.Less
This paper presents data on significant cultural influences on pain related psychosocial work place conditions, one of the core issues of psycho-somatic medicine, and discusses consequences for a cultural neuroscience of pain.
Chronic pain encompasses the experience of the pain sensation itself and a whole universe of related emotions, thoughts, behaviors and suffering, whilst tissue damage is no necessary precondition for it. A biopsychosocial view on risk factors typically concentrates on the intra-individual level and includes genetic dispositions or injuries, e.g., whilst an embodied approach emphasizing the “body being in the world”, integrating cultural perspectives seems more appropriate. However, recent epidemiological work demonstrated the relevance of group level psychosocial risk factors for chronic pain. Lack of social support at work, injustice, high job strain and effort-reward imbalance are important here.
Nevertheless, even these perspectives do not capture all relevant differences: Studies in different societies reveal significant cultural influences, both in an “etic” and in an “emic” perspective. The link between culture and pain involves different aspects. Culturally shaped ways of world-making influence interpretation, labeling and treatment of distress. Now, additional knowledge on the relational biology of pain reveals, how culture determines differences in neural processes underlying emotion and pain experience.
Fiachra Byrne
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719097850
- eISBN:
- 9781526120977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097850.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
The influence of the ‘new psychology’ was less notable in early-twentieth-century Ireland than elsewhere. Nonetheless, the personal narratives of patients can be used to unravel the meaning of ...
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The influence of the ‘new psychology’ was less notable in early-twentieth-century Ireland than elsewhere. Nonetheless, the personal narratives of patients can be used to unravel the meaning of warfare and conflict. This chapter exploits a 1940 article published by the former medical superintendent of the Downpatrick District Asylum, Michael J. Nolan, of a ‘case of acute systematized hallucinosis’. His article provided a detailed journal account of an extended period of hallucination authored by a patient in the immediate aftermath of his disturbance during the War of Independence. Nolan’s article was also distinguishable by its focus on the actual substance of hallucinatory experience. The patient recounted a hallucinatory episode in which a battle took place in his sickbed between an army of cockroaches and an army of hairs. These phantasmagorical battalions clearly functioned as proxies for the participants of the ‘real’ conflict raging beyond the doors of the asylum. His hallucinations were also deeply coloured by his personal relations with, and violent impulses towards, two women, one Protestant and the other Catholic. This chapter critically analyses in an ethnographic frame this account of a hallucinatory episode and the psychiatric discourse which enfolded and structured it.Less
The influence of the ‘new psychology’ was less notable in early-twentieth-century Ireland than elsewhere. Nonetheless, the personal narratives of patients can be used to unravel the meaning of warfare and conflict. This chapter exploits a 1940 article published by the former medical superintendent of the Downpatrick District Asylum, Michael J. Nolan, of a ‘case of acute systematized hallucinosis’. His article provided a detailed journal account of an extended period of hallucination authored by a patient in the immediate aftermath of his disturbance during the War of Independence. Nolan’s article was also distinguishable by its focus on the actual substance of hallucinatory experience. The patient recounted a hallucinatory episode in which a battle took place in his sickbed between an army of cockroaches and an army of hairs. These phantasmagorical battalions clearly functioned as proxies for the participants of the ‘real’ conflict raging beyond the doors of the asylum. His hallucinations were also deeply coloured by his personal relations with, and violent impulses towards, two women, one Protestant and the other Catholic. This chapter critically analyses in an ethnographic frame this account of a hallucinatory episode and the psychiatric discourse which enfolded and structured it.
Matthew Smith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231164849
- eISBN:
- 9780231539197
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164849.003.0005
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
During the postwar period, disputes about food allergy were framed on competing ideologies, one rooted in the emerging environmental movement and concerns about processed foods and food chemicals, ...
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During the postwar period, disputes about food allergy were framed on competing ideologies, one rooted in the emerging environmental movement and concerns about processed foods and food chemicals, and the other centered on the mid-twentieth-century fascination with psychosomatic medicine and Freudian psychoanalysis. In order to understand the impact of both of these models of allergic disease, this chapter concentrates on how the relationship between mental illness and food allergy was variously depicted by food allergists and psychoanalytically oriented allergists. The resulting divisions split the allergy community and, indeed, led many food allergists to abandon both the field—and the concept—of allergy altogether and turn instead to a new discipline: clinical ecology.Less
During the postwar period, disputes about food allergy were framed on competing ideologies, one rooted in the emerging environmental movement and concerns about processed foods and food chemicals, and the other centered on the mid-twentieth-century fascination with psychosomatic medicine and Freudian psychoanalysis. In order to understand the impact of both of these models of allergic disease, this chapter concentrates on how the relationship between mental illness and food allergy was variously depicted by food allergists and psychoanalytically oriented allergists. The resulting divisions split the allergy community and, indeed, led many food allergists to abandon both the field—and the concept—of allergy altogether and turn instead to a new discipline: clinical ecology.
Jörg Kreienbrock
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823245284
- eISBN:
- 9780823250721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823245284.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter analyzes the different disturbances of writing scenes in Jean Paul's novel Siebenkäs. It explains that this novel contains several scenes of writing in which the precarious relationship ...
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This chapter analyzes the different disturbances of writing scenes in Jean Paul's novel Siebenkäs. It explains that this novel contains several scenes of writing in which the precarious relationship between body, technology, and writing is negotiated and it relates how the protagonist Firmian Siebenkäs copes with the competing demands of his marriage, his career, and his writing. This chapter also discusses the aesthetic, philosophical, and psychological strategies employed by Siebenkäs and other characters in order to deal with the recalcitrance of the “imaginary materiality of writing,” the most prominent of which are models of Stoic self-government, psychosomatic treatments, and idyllic and humorous modes of representation in literary writing.Less
This chapter analyzes the different disturbances of writing scenes in Jean Paul's novel Siebenkäs. It explains that this novel contains several scenes of writing in which the precarious relationship between body, technology, and writing is negotiated and it relates how the protagonist Firmian Siebenkäs copes with the competing demands of his marriage, his career, and his writing. This chapter also discusses the aesthetic, philosophical, and psychological strategies employed by Siebenkäs and other characters in order to deal with the recalcitrance of the “imaginary materiality of writing,” the most prominent of which are models of Stoic self-government, psychosomatic treatments, and idyllic and humorous modes of representation in literary writing.
