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Embodying illness, embodying cancer.

D R Gordon1

  • 1Center for the Study and Prevention of Cancer, Florence, Italy.

Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
|June 1, 1990
PubMed
Summary

In Italy, cancer diagnosis nondisclosure is a coping mechanism. Patients avoid social death by keeping the diagnosis secret, separating life from death and the self from illness.

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Area of Science:

  • Medical Sociology
  • Cultural Anthropology
  • Psychosocial Oncology

Background:

  • Illness embodiment varies across individuals and societies.
  • Cultural meanings and personal experiences shape how diagnoses are lived.
  • Cancer carries strong associations with death and suffering in Italy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the practice and meanings of cancer diagnosis nondisclosure in Northern Italy.
  • To understand how nondisclosure functions as a social and psychological coping mechanism.
  • To analyze the societal implications of cancer diagnosis disclosure.

Main Methods:

  • Qualitative research based in Northern Italy.
  • Ethnographic study of cancer patient experiences.
  • Analysis of the practice of nondisclosure of diagnosis and prognosis.

Main Results:

  • Nondisclosure reflects a societal division between life/death, good/bad, mind/body.
  • The unwanted aspects of cancer are relegated to the "other."
  • Nondisclosure serves to protect individuals from social death, a consequence of cancer's association with hopelessness.

Conclusions:

  • Diagnosis nondisclosure is a significant mechanism for managing the social reality of cancer.
  • The power of naming a cancer diagnosis can lead to social death, making nondisclosure a protective strategy.
  • Societal perceptions of cancer heavily influence patient and family decisions regarding disclosure.

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