Communicating Health and Illness

Richard Gwyn is Lecturer and Co-ordinator at the Health Communication Research Centre, Cardiff University

Introduction The Body, Disease and Discourse `Lay' Talk about Illness Power, Asymmetry and Decision-Making in Medical Encounters The Media, Expert Opinion and Health Scares Metaphors of Sickness and Recovery Narrative and the Voicing of Illness Conclusion

`There has been a pressing need for a book like this for some time. Gwyn cogently reviews the literature on discourse analysis as it pertains to medical and health matters. Introducing original research from his own studies allows him to vividly illustrate just how important it is to understand the role played by discourse. Students of health communication and the sociology of health and illness will find this book integral to their studies' - Deborah Lupton "It raises a number of thorny issues concerning what communication is, or might be, for embodied people... I enjoyed reading this book and it goes on my shelf in the knowledge that I shall reach for it again. It also becomes a key reference on my list of recommendations for students taking my 'health and illness' course... it deserves to be read as an excellent review of the field at present." -- European Journal of Communication