Gillian Bendelow | University of Brighton (original) (raw)
Papers by Gillian Bendelow
Body & Society, 1995
Pain is never the sole creation of our anatomy and physiology. Rather, as Morris suggests, it eme... more Pain is never the sole creation of our anatomy and physiology. Rather, as Morris suggests, it emerges only at'the intersection of bodies, minds and cultures'(1991: 1). Moreover, defining pain is a semantic problem; in any language there may be wide variations in interpretation ...
The virtual mentor : VM, 2013
Emotion in Organizations Emotion in organizations, 2000
Sociology of health & illness, Jan 16, 2012
The diagnosis of depression in the clinical context is extremely controversial and is subject to ... more The diagnosis of depression in the clinical context is extremely controversial and is subject to criticism of over-medicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation. Depression can be conceptualised across the entire spectrum of lay and medical belief, from the 'normal' highs and lows of the human condition to its inclusion in the dominant Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classificatory system, as a form of serious mental illness. In this context, a better understanding of how people describe, experience, negotiate and participate in the process of diagnosis is needed. This article draws on qualitative interviews to explore lay accounts of being diagnosed with depression. The findings reveal that lay accounts of depression vacillate in and out of the medicalised discourse of depression, highlighting the limitations of the biomedical approach to diagnosis and treatment.
Social science & medicine (1982), 2006
Health professionals face a tension between focusing on the individual and attending to health is... more Health professionals face a tension between focusing on the individual and attending to health issues for the population as a whole. This tension is intrinsic to medicine and gives rise to medical uncertainty, which here is explored through accounts of three medical interventions focused on women at midlife: breast screening, hormone replacement therapy and bone densitometry. The accounts come from interviews with UK health professionals using these medical interventions in their daily work. Drawing on the analysis of Fox [(2002). Health and Healing: The public/private divide (pp. 236-253). London: Routledge] we distinguish three aspects of medical uncertainty and explore each one of them in relation to one of the interventions. First is uncertainty about the balance between the individual and distributive ethic of medicine, explored in relation to breast screening. Second is the dilemma faced by health professionals when using medical evidence generated through studies of populatio...
Health:, 2000
... to ten in six mixed sex primary schools in the south-east and north-west of England (Kent, Su... more ... to ten in six mixed sex primary schools in the south-east and north-west of England (Kent, Surrey, Inner London from here ... 5 While notions of responsibility were sometimes invoked here again mainly as a result of lifestyle factors such as smoking people with ... Health 4(1) 64 ...
Health, Risk & Society, 2006
A primary role of medicine is often perceived as treating or alleviating pain, but what actually ... more A primary role of medicine is often perceived as treating or alleviating pain, but what actually constitutes pain can be defined in many ways. A major impediment to a more adequate conceptualization of pain is thought to be the manner in which it has been ‘medicalized,’ over the course of the twentieth century resulting in the inevitable Cartesian split between
Social Science & Medicine, 1996
Studies of the lay evaluation of pain-relief clinics are rare, particularly in the U.K. Hence, in... more Studies of the lay evaluation of pain-relief clinics are rare, particularly in the U.K. Hence, in an attempt to rectify this lacuna, this paper reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative study which charts the vicissitudes of hope and despair of attenders at pain-relief clinics in London. In doing so, we demonstrate the complex interplay between peoples" pain careers, their styles of adjustment, socio-demographic characteristics, and their evaluations of medical treatment. Sadly, for many of these patients, this was the end of the road and their last hope of finding relief. Unfortunately, however, the overarching feeling was of medicine having "'failed" them. The paper concludes with a discussion of these findings and some suggestions for possible future research in this area.
Sociology of Health and Illness, 1995
Theories of pain have traditionally been dominated by biomedicine and concentrate upon its neurop... more Theories of pain have traditionally been dominated by biomedicine and concentrate upon its neurophysiological aspects, both in diagnosis and treatment. Hence, scientific medicine reduces the experience of pain to an elaborate broadcasting system of signals, rather than seeing it as moulded and shaped both by the individual and their particular socio-cultural context. Although pain lies at the intersection between biology and culture, naaking it an obvious topic for sociological investigation, scant attention has been paid to understanding beliefs about pain within the study of health and Ulness. A major impediment to a more adequate conceptualisation of pain is due to the manner in which it has been 'medicalised', resulting in the inevitable Cartesian split between body and mind. Consequently, the dominant conceptualisation of pain has focused upon sensation, with the subsequent inference that it is able to be rationally and objectively measured. Yet as well as being a medical 'problem', pain is an everyday experience. Moreover, sociological and phenomenological approaches to pain would add to, and enhance, existing bodies of knowledge and help to reclaim pain from the dominant scientific paradigm. In this paper, it is argued, firstly, that the elevation of sensation over emotion within medico-psychological approaches to pain^can be shown to be limiting and reductionist. Secondly, we attempt to show how insights from the newly-emerging sociological arenas of emotions and embodiment provide a framework which is able to both transcend the divide between mind and body and to develop a phenomenoiogical approach to pain. Finally, in order to bring the meaning of pain into fuller focus, we draw attention to the importance of studying theodices and narratives, as well as the cultural shaping and patterning of beliefs and responses to pain.
European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 2002
Using insights gleaned from the sociology of childhood to challenge prevailing conceptualizations... more Using insights gleaned from the sociology of childhood to challenge prevailing conceptualizations of children as emotionally ‘incomplete’ or ‘immature’ in relation to adults, this study demonstrates the interactive nature of the social order within primary schools and the centrality of emotional learning to children's everyday lives and relationships. Analysis of the qualitative data shows how children recognize the role of
Health Education, 1996
Reports the findings from a study of young people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, an... more Reports the findings from a study of young people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, and their understanding of health and health-related behaviours, the aim of which is to inform future health promotion work in this area. Finds, from the study of three inner city, suburban and rural schools involving 226 young people aged 15-16, that young people know most
Health Education, 1996
... Campaign (WNCC). In particular, we would like to thank the late Baroness Jane Ewart-Biggs, Dr... more ... Campaign (WNCC). In particular, we would like to thank the late Baroness Jane Ewart-Biggs, Dr Mary Buchanan, Dr OAN Hussain, and Dame Josephine Barnes from the WNCC for their invaluable help and support. We should ...
International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2006
Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 2010
To review recent literature around the controversial diagnosis of personality disorder, and to as... more To review recent literature around the controversial diagnosis of personality disorder, and to assess the ethical aspects of its status as a medical disorder. The diagnostic currency of personality disorder as a psychiatric/medical disorder has a longstanding history of ethical and social challenges through critiques of the medicalization of deviance. More recently controversies by reflexive physicians around the inclusion of the category in the forthcoming revisions of International Classification of Diseases and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classifications reflect the problems of value-laden criteria, with the diagnostic category being severely challenged from within psychiatry as well as from without. The clinical diagnostic criteria for extremely value-laden psychiatric conditions such as personality disorder need to be analyzed through the lens of values-based medicine, as well as through clinical evidence, as the propensity for political and sociolegal appropriation of the categories can render their clinical and diagnostic value meaningless.
Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 2004
Critical Public Health, 2010
Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 2010
Women's perspectives on breast screening (mammogr... more Women's perspectives on breast screening (mammography and breast awareness) were explored in interviews with midlife women sampled for diversity of background and health experience. Attending mammography screening was considered a social obligation despite women's fears and experiences of discomfort. Women gave considerable legitimacy to mammography visualizations of the breast, and the expert interpretation of these. In comparison, women lacked confidence in breast awareness practices, directly comparing their sensory capabilities with those of the mammogram, although mammography screening did not substitute breast awareness in a straightforward way. The authors argue that reliance on visualizing technology may create a fragmented sense of the body, separating the at risk breast from embodied experience.
Sociology of Health and Illness, 1993
This research explores the relationship between perceptions of pain and the social characteristic... more This research explores the relationship between perceptions of pain and the social characteristics of the individual, with a focus on the role of gender in the process, with an emphasis on the meaning of 'lay' understanding of the phenomena of pain. In order to broaden the definition of pain a multi-method form of enquiry was adopted and significant gender differences were found in the emphasis on the role of the emotions and the social expectations of the ability to cope in experiences and perceptions of pain. Analysis of the qualitative fieldwork revealed how experiences of pain incorporate feelings and vulnerabilities, existential and religious beliefs as well the sensory components. The attribution, by both sexes, of the superior capacities of women in coping with pain are linked to their biological and reproductive functioning, but are underpinned by cultural expectations of roles and socialisation. The 'findings' of the study both reflect the particular experiences of people living in a multi-racial inner-city area, and provide a basis for developing new approaches to the understanding of pain, and the relationships between pain, gender, culture and embodiment.
Body & Society, 1995
Pain is never the sole creation of our anatomy and physiology. Rather, as Morris suggests, it eme... more Pain is never the sole creation of our anatomy and physiology. Rather, as Morris suggests, it emerges only at'the intersection of bodies, minds and cultures'(1991: 1). Moreover, defining pain is a semantic problem; in any language there may be wide variations in interpretation ...
The virtual mentor : VM, 2013
Emotion in Organizations Emotion in organizations, 2000
Sociology of health & illness, Jan 16, 2012
The diagnosis of depression in the clinical context is extremely controversial and is subject to ... more The diagnosis of depression in the clinical context is extremely controversial and is subject to criticism of over-medicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation. Depression can be conceptualised across the entire spectrum of lay and medical belief, from the 'normal' highs and lows of the human condition to its inclusion in the dominant Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classificatory system, as a form of serious mental illness. In this context, a better understanding of how people describe, experience, negotiate and participate in the process of diagnosis is needed. This article draws on qualitative interviews to explore lay accounts of being diagnosed with depression. The findings reveal that lay accounts of depression vacillate in and out of the medicalised discourse of depression, highlighting the limitations of the biomedical approach to diagnosis and treatment.
Social science & medicine (1982), 2006
Health professionals face a tension between focusing on the individual and attending to health is... more Health professionals face a tension between focusing on the individual and attending to health issues for the population as a whole. This tension is intrinsic to medicine and gives rise to medical uncertainty, which here is explored through accounts of three medical interventions focused on women at midlife: breast screening, hormone replacement therapy and bone densitometry. The accounts come from interviews with UK health professionals using these medical interventions in their daily work. Drawing on the analysis of Fox [(2002). Health and Healing: The public/private divide (pp. 236-253). London: Routledge] we distinguish three aspects of medical uncertainty and explore each one of them in relation to one of the interventions. First is uncertainty about the balance between the individual and distributive ethic of medicine, explored in relation to breast screening. Second is the dilemma faced by health professionals when using medical evidence generated through studies of populatio...
Health:, 2000
... to ten in six mixed sex primary schools in the south-east and north-west of England (Kent, Su... more ... to ten in six mixed sex primary schools in the south-east and north-west of England (Kent, Surrey, Inner London from here ... 5 While notions of responsibility were sometimes invoked here again mainly as a result of lifestyle factors such as smoking people with ... Health 4(1) 64 ...
Health, Risk & Society, 2006
A primary role of medicine is often perceived as treating or alleviating pain, but what actually ... more A primary role of medicine is often perceived as treating or alleviating pain, but what actually constitutes pain can be defined in many ways. A major impediment to a more adequate conceptualization of pain is thought to be the manner in which it has been ‘medicalized,’ over the course of the twentieth century resulting in the inevitable Cartesian split between
Social Science & Medicine, 1996
Studies of the lay evaluation of pain-relief clinics are rare, particularly in the U.K. Hence, in... more Studies of the lay evaluation of pain-relief clinics are rare, particularly in the U.K. Hence, in an attempt to rectify this lacuna, this paper reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative study which charts the vicissitudes of hope and despair of attenders at pain-relief clinics in London. In doing so, we demonstrate the complex interplay between peoples" pain careers, their styles of adjustment, socio-demographic characteristics, and their evaluations of medical treatment. Sadly, for many of these patients, this was the end of the road and their last hope of finding relief. Unfortunately, however, the overarching feeling was of medicine having "'failed" them. The paper concludes with a discussion of these findings and some suggestions for possible future research in this area.
Sociology of Health and Illness, 1995
Theories of pain have traditionally been dominated by biomedicine and concentrate upon its neurop... more Theories of pain have traditionally been dominated by biomedicine and concentrate upon its neurophysiological aspects, both in diagnosis and treatment. Hence, scientific medicine reduces the experience of pain to an elaborate broadcasting system of signals, rather than seeing it as moulded and shaped both by the individual and their particular socio-cultural context. Although pain lies at the intersection between biology and culture, naaking it an obvious topic for sociological investigation, scant attention has been paid to understanding beliefs about pain within the study of health and Ulness. A major impediment to a more adequate conceptualisation of pain is due to the manner in which it has been 'medicalised', resulting in the inevitable Cartesian split between body and mind. Consequently, the dominant conceptualisation of pain has focused upon sensation, with the subsequent inference that it is able to be rationally and objectively measured. Yet as well as being a medical 'problem', pain is an everyday experience. Moreover, sociological and phenomenological approaches to pain would add to, and enhance, existing bodies of knowledge and help to reclaim pain from the dominant scientific paradigm. In this paper, it is argued, firstly, that the elevation of sensation over emotion within medico-psychological approaches to pain^can be shown to be limiting and reductionist. Secondly, we attempt to show how insights from the newly-emerging sociological arenas of emotions and embodiment provide a framework which is able to both transcend the divide between mind and body and to develop a phenomenoiogical approach to pain. Finally, in order to bring the meaning of pain into fuller focus, we draw attention to the importance of studying theodices and narratives, as well as the cultural shaping and patterning of beliefs and responses to pain.
European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 2002
Using insights gleaned from the sociology of childhood to challenge prevailing conceptualizations... more Using insights gleaned from the sociology of childhood to challenge prevailing conceptualizations of children as emotionally ‘incomplete’ or ‘immature’ in relation to adults, this study demonstrates the interactive nature of the social order within primary schools and the centrality of emotional learning to children's everyday lives and relationships. Analysis of the qualitative data shows how children recognize the role of
Health Education, 1996
Reports the findings from a study of young people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, an... more Reports the findings from a study of young people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, and their understanding of health and health-related behaviours, the aim of which is to inform future health promotion work in this area. Finds, from the study of three inner city, suburban and rural schools involving 226 young people aged 15-16, that young people know most
Health Education, 1996
... Campaign (WNCC). In particular, we would like to thank the late Baroness Jane Ewart-Biggs, Dr... more ... Campaign (WNCC). In particular, we would like to thank the late Baroness Jane Ewart-Biggs, Dr Mary Buchanan, Dr OAN Hussain, and Dame Josephine Barnes from the WNCC for their invaluable help and support. We should ...
International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2006
Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 2010
To review recent literature around the controversial diagnosis of personality disorder, and to as... more To review recent literature around the controversial diagnosis of personality disorder, and to assess the ethical aspects of its status as a medical disorder. The diagnostic currency of personality disorder as a psychiatric/medical disorder has a longstanding history of ethical and social challenges through critiques of the medicalization of deviance. More recently controversies by reflexive physicians around the inclusion of the category in the forthcoming revisions of International Classification of Diseases and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classifications reflect the problems of value-laden criteria, with the diagnostic category being severely challenged from within psychiatry as well as from without. The clinical diagnostic criteria for extremely value-laden psychiatric conditions such as personality disorder need to be analyzed through the lens of values-based medicine, as well as through clinical evidence, as the propensity for political and sociolegal appropriation of the categories can render their clinical and diagnostic value meaningless.
Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 2004
Critical Public Health, 2010
Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 2010
Women's perspectives on breast screening (mammogr... more Women's perspectives on breast screening (mammography and breast awareness) were explored in interviews with midlife women sampled for diversity of background and health experience. Attending mammography screening was considered a social obligation despite women's fears and experiences of discomfort. Women gave considerable legitimacy to mammography visualizations of the breast, and the expert interpretation of these. In comparison, women lacked confidence in breast awareness practices, directly comparing their sensory capabilities with those of the mammogram, although mammography screening did not substitute breast awareness in a straightforward way. The authors argue that reliance on visualizing technology may create a fragmented sense of the body, separating the at risk breast from embodied experience.
Sociology of Health and Illness, 1993
This research explores the relationship between perceptions of pain and the social characteristic... more This research explores the relationship between perceptions of pain and the social characteristics of the individual, with a focus on the role of gender in the process, with an emphasis on the meaning of 'lay' understanding of the phenomena of pain. In order to broaden the definition of pain a multi-method form of enquiry was adopted and significant gender differences were found in the emphasis on the role of the emotions and the social expectations of the ability to cope in experiences and perceptions of pain. Analysis of the qualitative fieldwork revealed how experiences of pain incorporate feelings and vulnerabilities, existential and religious beliefs as well the sensory components. The attribution, by both sexes, of the superior capacities of women in coping with pain are linked to their biological and reproductive functioning, but are underpinned by cultural expectations of roles and socialisation. The 'findings' of the study both reflect the particular experiences of people living in a multi-racial inner-city area, and provide a basis for developing new approaches to the understanding of pain, and the relationships between pain, gender, culture and embodiment.