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Derivative benefits: exploring the body through complementary and alternative medicine
Author(s) -
Baarts Charlotte,
Pedersen Inge Kryger
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01163.x
Subject(s) - reflexology , popularity , mindfulness , resistance (ecology) , psychology , order (exchange) , health care , psychotherapist , alternative medicine , social psychology , public relations , medicine , business , political science , law , ecology , finance , pathology , massage , biology
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.