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- Title
Jean—An Illness Story: The Quest to Address the Advance of Chaos.
- Authors
Roberts, Brian Arthur
- Abstract
In Arthur Frank’s book The Wounded Storyteller, the illness story is brought to life, highlighting the disruption in the life course that serious illness brings. Frank shows that a narrative can aid suffers by giving a voice to those silenced within the health system. In this article, one sufferer marginalized within the health care system is offered a voice, and writing the illness story is explored as a healing process for the author, whose mother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease some 30 years ago. Elements of Frank’s theoretical processes of a “chaos story” and a “quest story” are combined in the author’s attempt to gain closure with the health and political systems. The author highlights the absence of a meaningful social work intervention, makes recommendations from an anti-oppressive perspective, and offers a discussion of social work interventions that have developed over time. Further, the author advocates for adaptation in a system ill prepared for the possible future onslaught of dementia cases and details how the illness-story narrative can be used as a therapeutic tool for caregivers.
- Subjects
LIFE writing; CAREGIVERS; INTERVENTION (Social services); CARE of dementia patients; CARE of Alzheimer's patients; PSYCHOLOGY
- Publication
Health & Social Work, 2015, Vol 40, Issue 1, p43
- ISSN
0360-7283
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/hsw/hlu039