`I'd forgotten about me in all of this'

Abstract

Drawing on in-depth interviews with Australian cancer patients, this article examines their experiences of utilizing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) within disease and treatment processes. Results illustrate the complex and often contradictory roles played by CAM within patients' therapeutic trajectories. On the one hand, their accounts illustrate the liberating and positive impacts of CAM engagement, including perceived increases in feelings of control, power and individual autonomy within therapeutic processes. However, the interviews also revealed problematic notions of self-healing and hyper-positivity engendered in much CAM practice, involving the imposition of restrictive notions of self-discipline on these cancer patients. On the basis of the results it is argued that CAM sociology must refocus on the grassroots experiences of different patient groups, rather than grandiose notions of wider socio-cultural shifts in therapeutic practice.

On Euthanasia, Resistance, and Redemption

“…To take a step back for a moment, there are in fact dual processes evident in the accounts presented here. The first is a moral economy of dying (see Booth, 1994) that, through cultural scripts around “good deaths” and ideas about gift/obligation, provides a relational framework for “dying well.” Intimately intertwined with quasi- or explicitly religious notions of “closure,” “acceptance,” and a “natural” end, this morality of dying produces interpersonal dilemmas; dilemmas about a responsibility to live as long as one can (see also Broom, 2009); a responsibility to reconcile existential questions before death; and a responsibility to accept one’s end (see also Broom & Cavenagh, 2011). The second concurrent process is the governance of timely deaths (Parry, 1982, 1994), human dignity, and the universally recognized right to life.…”

Modes of Embodiment in Breast Cancer Patients Using Complementary and Alternative Medicine

“…Several potential health related risks of use of CM or AT should be considered such as the unregulated nature of various CAM products and CAM practitioners in many countries (World Health Organization, 2002). Studies have focused on e.g., interaction between herbs and pharmaceuticals (Izzo & Ernst, 2009), the refusal of important conventional treatment and delay of medical diagnosis (Malik & Gopalan, 2003), and problematic notions of self-healing and hyperpositivity that involve restrictive notions of self-discipline (Broom 2009b). …”

Traditional Medicines, Collective Negotiation, and Representations of Risk in Indian Cancer Care

“…In saying this—and communication provides an excellent illustration of this cultural shift—these clinicians’ accounts illustrate the broader tendency within urban Indian biomedicine and public health to view TCAM use and reliance as “backwards” and “regressive.” Moreover, their communication approaches, while illustrating patient support and the usage of TCAM, also emphasized biomedicine as exclusively able to treat cancer. In this sense, they presented TCAM in similar ways to how oncology clinicians present TCAM in Western contexts; that is, as capable of (perhaps) being an aspect of supportive care but not as having a role in the actual “treatment” of cancer (see Broom, 2009a, 2009b; Broom & Adams, 2009).…”

“…Moreover, their communication approaches, while illustrating patient support and the usage of TCAM, also emphasized biomedicine as exclusively able to treat cancer. In this sense, they presented TCAM in similar ways to how oncology clinicians present TCAM in Western contexts; that is, as capable of (perhaps) being an aspect of supportive care but not as having a role in the actual "treatment" of cancer (see Broom, 2009aBroom, , 2009b.…”