A phenomenological analysis of doctor-patient interaction: a case study

The fact that the biomedical model has been very successful in practice does not preclude that some health issues can be understood by way of other health care perspectives. Acquiring skills in meeting patients requires theories that structure other fields of knowledge than the biomedical sciences. An old man, who experiences himself as deeply misunderstood by the medical profession, is interviewed, his personal life-story is gone into and his case records and other available data are analysed. A phenomenological method is used, i.e. disciplined and rigorous reflection upon available data, remaining close to the particular pieces of the patient's narrative as they stand forth in their contextual relationships. The study shows that the doctors involved did not relate to the patient but to a biomedical image of him. His efforts to make himself understood were converted into instrumentally manageable disorders. Finally, dialogue medicine is briefly introduced as a model for counselling patients, especially when they need assistance to abandon the notion that they have been afflicted with a disease, a perception that might serve the purpose of keeping a threatening self-image out of consciousness.