Abjection in Nursing: Silently Reading the Body

Montgomery, Sheila Ray

doi:10.1891/1541-6577.28.3.252

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The experiences in Wuhan have become individual taboo, which means ‘uncanny, dangerous, forbidden and unclean' (Kristeva, 1982, p. 59). Taboo thus creates a discourse of abjection (Montgomery, 2014, p. 255). The act of distancing oneself from the experience in Wuhan that was perceived as a threat or source of contagion, is in fact ‘an act of defending one's own subjectivity’ (McCabe, 2010, p. 214).…”

Section: Transition From Immediate Reaction To Long‐term Impact On He...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A perpetual process of abjection: An examination of nurses' experiences in caring COVID‐19 patients in Wuhan

Zhang

2024

Nursing Philosophy

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In this article, I try to document the lived experiences of nurses who were sent to Wuhan to work in the COVID‐19 wards and consider the impact of such experiences on their psychological well‐being. I show the contextual factors in Wuhan, the inherent nature of nursing during the pandemic and the transition from the immediate reactions of nurses to long‐term impacts on their personalities, formed through the whole process of abjection. Therefore, I argue that we need to consider how nursing experiences, before, during and after their professional work in the wards, would instigate abjection within nurses. The abjection of nurses does not start only from the ward, nor does it not end in the ward. Rather, the abjection of nurses, as a reaction to lived experiences, is nuanced and the study of it can reveal rich details of nurses' life both inside and outside of the ward.

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Section: Transition From Immediate Reaction To Long‐term Impact On He...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A perpetual process of abjection: An examination of nurses' experiences in caring COVID‐19 patients in Wuhan

Zhang

2024

Nursing Philosophy

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“…This socialization to the repression of abjection or feelings of disgust begins in nursing school (Alavi, 2005) and carries on throughout a nurse's career. Across all fields of nursing, exposure to the abject, from fecal incontinence (Butcher, 2020) to the bodies of the deceased (Hadders, 2007) to the frail elderly (Higgs & Gilleard, 2014) to wounds and tumors and terrible odors (Kaiser et al, 2019; Van Der Riet, 2006) to plegm (Lindahl, 2011) to excessive body hair (Montgomery, 2014) to the use of leeches (Reynolds & O'Boyle, 2016) to burns (Rudge, 1996) to patients behaving in a disturbing manner (Hellzen et al, 1999), occurs with professional expectations to maintain a calm presence, to clean and treat the abject body or person regardless of the nurse's own feelings. It is simply viewed as part of the job (Van Dongen, 2001).…”

Section: Abjectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abjection and the weaponization of bodily excretions in forensic psychiatry settings: A poststructural reflection

Johansson

Holmes²

2021

Nursing Inquiry

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Nurses working in forensic psychiatric settings face unique challenges in practice, where they take on a dual role of custody and caring. Patient resistance is widespread within these restrictive settings and can take many forms. Perhaps the most disturbing form of resistance entails a patient's weaponization of their bodily fluids, with nurses as their target. The tendency in assigning motive for this act is to relegate to the psychopathology of the patient. This paper will adopt a poststructuralist perspective to reexamine this phenomenon as an act of resistance through the lens of Kristeva's concept of abjection. Patients confined in these settings have little sense of control, and in resistance may resort to the only thing available: their bodily fluids. By weaponizing the abject, patients actively violate and permeate the physical and psychological boundaries of nurses-the very boundaries considered crucial to safe and professional forensic psychiatric nursing practice.By recognizing this phenomenon as an act of resistance to confinement and loss of control, nurses may reorient their approach to care in forensic psychiatric settings.

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On Skin, Monsters and Boundaries: What The Silence of the Lambs can Teach Nurses About Abjection

Johansson,

Holmes

2024

Nursing Inquiry

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The 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs tracks the fictional pursuit of an American serial killer by a Federal Bureau of Investigation trainee, via the assistance of another incarcerated serial killer. It features psychologically disturbing themes, such as corpses, the mutilation of skin and monstrous persons. Incidentally, these are all themes regularly encountered by nurses in their day‐to‐day practices, including forensic mental health nurses. Despite regular encounters with these themes and phenomena, nurses continue to find them disturbing and troubling, but, at the same time, clinically fascinating. This paper will mobilize Kristeva's poststructuralist, psychoanalytic concept of abjection to relate the encounters in The Silence of the Lambs to those of nurses, to reconceptualize feelings of both disgust and fascination and to consider how vulnerability may benefit nursing practice. Of particular relevance are the breakdown of skin encountered in nursing practice, encounters with corpses and work with forensic patients considered monstrous. The film provides opportunity for nurses to conceptualize abjection in their own practice and to consider how a reconceptualization of boundaries and vulnerability may prove productive.

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Abjection in Nursing: Silently Reading the Body

Abstract: Abjection is linked, by its very nature, to the definitions of professional caring. The ability to read a body through the abjection of one's own self is a rite of passage for most nurses.

Cited by 5 publications

References 11 publications

A perpetual process of abjection: An examination of nurses' experiences in caring COVID‐19 patients in Wuhan

A perpetual process of abjection: An examination of nurses' experiences in caring COVID‐19 patients in Wuhan

Abjection and the weaponization of bodily excretions in forensic psychiatry settings: A poststructural reflection

On Skin, Monsters and Boundaries: What The Silence of the Lambs can Teach Nurses About Abjection

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