Maintaining the Balance in a Juvenile Diabetic Clinic

A paediatric diabetic clinic is described by a child psychiatrist, using a series of models from within and outside child psychiatry: biochemical, behavioural, systemic and cultural. Descriptions pivoted around the term, balance. 'Balance' is seen as a metaphor that structured the author's understanding of the dilemmas faced by the participants. The paper then places this meaning-based approach in the context of power: power over resources, authority over knowledge and responsibility for others. The clinic is understood as an ongoing interchange between meaning- and power-based views. The claim is that liaison child psychiatry needs cultural or anthropological approaches to appreciate the complexities of everyday medical work.