Building an intersubjective understanding of the patient’s mental suffering
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Elina Weiste
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.
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.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Intersubjectivity in action 1
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Part I. How language codes and creates intersubjectivity
- Organizing the “we” in interaction 25
- Definitely indefinite 41
- Directive turn design and intersubjectivity 61
- On agency and affiliation in second assessments 81
- Mirror-like address practice in Arabic-medium classroom interaction 109
- Brokering co-participants’ volition in request and offer sequences 135
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Part II. Moving towards shared understanding
- Decision-making in salesperson–customer interaction 163
- Building an intersubjective understanding of the patient’s mental suffering 183
- Shared understandings of the human–nature relationship in encounters with small wildlife 201
- Extending sequences of other-initiated repair in Finnish conversation 231
- Co-presence during lapses 251
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Part III. Bodies and intersubjectivity
- Achieving the intersubjectivity of sensorial practices 279
- Emotion, psychophysiology, and intersubjectivity 303
- Movement synchrony as a topic of empirical social interaction research 329
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Part IV. Evolving intersubjectivity
- Learning to request in interaction 349
- How an improvised scene emerges in theatre rehearsal 373
- Interactional reciprocity in human–dog interaction 397
- Appendix. Transcription conventions and glossing symbols 429
- Index 435
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Intersubjectivity in action 1
-
Part I. How language codes and creates intersubjectivity
- Organizing the “we” in interaction 25
- Definitely indefinite 41
- Directive turn design and intersubjectivity 61
- On agency and affiliation in second assessments 81
- Mirror-like address practice in Arabic-medium classroom interaction 109
- Brokering co-participants’ volition in request and offer sequences 135
-
Part II. Moving towards shared understanding
- Decision-making in salesperson–customer interaction 163
- Building an intersubjective understanding of the patient’s mental suffering 183
- Shared understandings of the human–nature relationship in encounters with small wildlife 201
- Extending sequences of other-initiated repair in Finnish conversation 231
- Co-presence during lapses 251
-
Part III. Bodies and intersubjectivity
- Achieving the intersubjectivity of sensorial practices 279
- Emotion, psychophysiology, and intersubjectivity 303
- Movement synchrony as a topic of empirical social interaction research 329
-
Part IV. Evolving intersubjectivity
- Learning to request in interaction 349
- How an improvised scene emerges in theatre rehearsal 373
- Interactional reciprocity in human–dog interaction 397
- Appendix. Transcription conventions and glossing symbols 429
- Index 435
