Construction of a Non-medical Point of View Regarding Medicine and Health: An Example of Self-Injury Internet Forums

Baptiste Brossard

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    In the last decade, growing areas of expression on the Internet that deal with health raise the question of the perception of medicine and health by individuals. Based on a qualitative sociological survey conducted since 2006 on forums devoted to self-injury behaviours and its members, we show the impact of these forums on ways of thinking about this problem and its medical treatment. Possibilities of discussions between individuals who suffer from the same mental disorder which is taboo in other scenes of social life create for each member an extended network of acquaintances and, therefore, occasions to discuss relationships among patients and psychiatrists, medicines, viability of diagnoses and therapies. How does this change the choice modalities of psychiatrists by these potential patients and affect their trust in treatments? Through a precise focus on forums where self-injury behaviour is discussed, we bring to light the concrete logics of the construction of these points of view on self-injury and psychiatry, through relationships between forum members, which will lead us to discuss the potential impact of these forums.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Meaning Management Challenge: Making Sense of Health, Illness and Disease
    EditorsZhenyi Li and Thomas Lawrence Long
    Place of PublicationOxford, United Kingdom
    PublisherInter-Disciplinary Press
    Pages69 - 82
    Volume1
    Edition1
    ISBN (Print)9781848880238
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

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