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Material Discourses of Health and Illness

• Edited by Lucy Yardley

• Price: $27.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 256
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 6th February 1997
• ISBN: 978-0-415-13824-6

About the Book

Material Discourses of Health and Illness applies discursive approaches to the field of health psychology, in stark contrast to the bio-medical model of health and illness. The discursive approach uses the person's experience and feelings as the central focus of interest, whereas the more traditional models regarded these as coincidental and relatively unimportant.
The book provides an accessible and compelling introduction to social constructionist and discursive approaches to those with limited previous knowledge of socio-linguistic theory and research. It provides practical examples of how these approaches can be applied to the field of health psychology with a collection of sophisticated discursive analyses which demonstrate the distinctive contribution that can be made by psychologists to a field that has been largely dominated by sociologists and anthropologists.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors. Preface and Acknowledgements. Introducing material discursive approaches to health. Introducing discursive methods. What role does the body have in illness? Interpretative phenomenological analysis and the psychology of health and illness. Social anf material ecologies for hearing impairment. Disorientation in the (post) modern world. The relationship between representational and materialist perspectives: AIDS and 'the other' Discourses and sexual health: providing for young people. Discourses of pregnancy and childbirth. Diet as a vehicle for self control. Speaking the docorated body.

About the Author(s)

Lucy Yardley is Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University College London, and author of Vertigo and Dizziness (Routledge, 1994).