Derivative benefits: exploring the body through complementary and alternative medicine

Abstract

Since the 1960s, in Western societies, there has been a striking growth of consumer interest in complementary or alternative medicine (CAM). In order to make this increased popularity intelligible this paper challenges stereotypical images of users' motives and the results of clinical studies of CAM by exploring bodily experiences of acupuncture, reflexology treatments, and mindfulness training. The study draws on 138 in-depth interviews with 46 clients, client diaries and observations of 92 clinical treatments in order to identify bodily experiences of health and care: experiences that are contested between forces of mastery, control and resistance. We discuss why clients continue to use CAM even when the treatments do not help or even after they have been relieved of their physiological or mental problems. The encounter between the client and CAM produces derivative benefits such as a fresh and sustained sense of bodily responsibility that induces new health practices.

Modes of Embodiment in Breast Cancer Patients Using Complementary and Alternative Medicine

“…Relevant studies among patients with various diseases indicate that focus on bodily awareness, bodily experiences and embodied knowledge are important elements in experienced effects of, and reasons for, the use of CAM (Agdal, 2005;Baarts & Pedersen, 2009;Broom 2009a;O" Connor, 2003;Paterson, Baarts, Launsø, & Verhoef, 2009). O"Connor (2003) has emphasized that it is common for individuals to report that one or another CAM modality is more congruent with their experience of the body than what they have found in CT. Baarts & Pedersen (2009) have argued that CAM per se profoundly disrupts modes of bodily "disappearance", and that the encounter between the patient and CAM can produce a fresh and sustained sense of bodily responsibility that induces new health practices. It has also been argued that the shift in various cultural understandings of the body and how people cope with this diversity deserves to be more thoroughly 7 investigated, because this might affect patient choices as well as the legitimacy of health authorities (Agdal, 2005).…”

“…Thus, we argue that this distinction between CAM used as a supplement versus an alternative to CT is worth exploring in connection to the meaning and importance of bodily experiences. More knowledge about the specific health strategies of CAM users is needed to optimize and safeguard patients" treatment choices in a society with competing health paradigms (Baarts & Pedersen, 2009;Bodeker, Kronenberg, & Burford, 2007;Hughner & Kleine, 2008).The aim of this article is to explore the meaning and importance of bodily experiences among breast cancer women who have chosen to use CAM as either a supplement or alternative to CT. We use the term "complementary medicine" (CM) when referring to CAM used as a supplement to CT, and the term "alternative treatment" (AT) when referring to CAM used as an alternative to CT. When we refer to other studies, we use the concept CAM because authors usually do not focus on the distinction between patients" use of CM and AT (Low 2001).…”

“…Because we here analyze the patients" verbal descriptions, we define "bodily experiences" in terms of the individual"s own direct verbal reference to what is phenomenologically presented to her, i.e. what she perceives (Baarts & Pedersen, 2009;Gendlin 1997). Qualitative content analysis was used for the subjective interpretation of the text data through the systematic classification process of coding and identifying different themes or patterns (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).…”

“…Thus, we argue that this distinction between CAM used as a supplement versus an alternative to CT is worth exploring in connection to the meaning and importance of bodily experiences. More knowledge about the specific health strategies of CAM users is needed to optimize and safeguard patients" treatment choices in a society with competing health paradigms (Baarts & Pedersen, 2009;Bodeker, Kronenberg, & Burford, 2007;Hughner & Kleine, 2008).…”

“…The Cochrane Collaboration (Zollman & Vickers, 1999) No applicable official definition of CAM exists in Denmark, but the situation is quite similar to Norway. CAM in a Danish context can be defined as therapies that go beyond the treatments offered by the state-financed health system (Baarts & Pedersen, 2009). In general, the prevalence of CAM use in Scandinavia is higher among women, individuals with higher education, and people with poor self-reported health (Hanssen et al, 2005).…”