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Narrative representations of chronic illness experience: cultural models of illness, mind, and body in stories concerning the Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ)

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  • Garro, Linda C.

Abstract

The narratives individuals told about their experiences with an illness they have come to understand as TMJ, a problem linked to the temporomandibular joints of the jaw, are complex. Each is embedded within a unique set of life circumstances and guided by individual schemas and explanatory models. Each recounts how persons have come to make sense of perplexing symptoms that are not easily categorized and treated within the North American health care system. Yet, in spite of their distinctiveness, the reconstructed narratives are not independent of shared cultural schemas, such as those relating to mind and body, and other shared models, such as the model for TMJ, which individuals come to adopt as a consequence of treatment and interaction with others. The consistent emergence of themes concerning the mind and body within and across narratives attest to their salience for understanding the narratives related here. While describing the effect of illness on individual lives, narratives also illuminate how shared understandings shape the interpretation and construction of individual experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Garro, Linda C., 1994. "Narrative representations of chronic illness experience: cultural models of illness, mind, and body in stories concerning the Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 775-788, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:38:y:1994:i:6:p:775-788
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    Cited by:

    1. Travers, Michele Kerry & Lawler, Jocalyn, 2008. "Self within a climate of contention: Experiences of chronic fatigue syndrome," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 315-326, January.
    2. Inge M Brokerhof & Jan Fekke Ybema & P Matthijs Bal, 2020. "Illness narratives and chronic patients’ sustainable employability: The impact of positive work stories," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Madden, Sue & Sim, Julius, 2006. "Creating meaning in fibromyalgia syndrome," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 2962-2973, December.
    4. Eaves, Emery R., 2015. "“Just Advil”: Harm reduction and identity construction in the consumption of over-the-counter medication for chronic pain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 147-154.
    5. Werner-Lin, Allison & Forbes Shepherd, Rowan & Young, Jennifer L. & Wilsnack, Catherine & Merrill, Shana L. & Greene, Mark H. & Khincha, Payal P., 2022. "Embodied risk for families with Li-Fraumeni syndrome: Like electricity through my body," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    6. Sirpa Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, 2001. "Weight Loss and Quality of Life among Obese People," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 329-354, June.
    7. Shaked, Michal, 2005. "The social trajectory of illness: Autism in the ultraorthodox community in Israel," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(10), pages 2190-2200, November.
    8. Dassieu, Lise & Kaboré, Jean-Luc & Choinière, Manon & Arruda, Nelson & Roy, Élise, 2020. "Painful lives: Chronic pain experience among people who use illicit drugs in Montreal (Canada)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    9. Lonardi, Cristina, 2007. "The passing dilemma in socially invisible diseases: Narratives on chronic headache," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(8), pages 1619-1629, October.

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