Remaking the Self: Trauma, Teachable Moments, and the Biopolitics of Cancer Survivorship

Abstract

As numerous scholars have noted, cancer survivorship is often represented in popular discourse as providing an opportunity for a physical, emotional, and spiritual makeover. However, this idea that cancer enables the self to be remade on all levels is also increasingly evoked in the field of psychosocial oncology. Exploring cancer survivorship as a biopolitical phenomenon, I focus on two concepts that have become central to understandings of the disease: the “teachable moment” and “post-traumatic growth.” Drawing primarily on representations of cancer survivorship in the clinical literature, I suggest that cancer is increasingly seen to present a unique opportunity to catalyze the patient’s physical and psychological development. In this framework, the patient can no longer be relied upon to transform him or herself: this change must be externally driven, with clinicians taking advantage of the trauma that cancer entails to kick-start the patient into action. Broadening my analysis to the concepts of “trauma” and “development” writ large, I go on to suggest that survivorship discourse seems to partake of a larger and relatively recent meta-narrative about development—both individual and societal—and the positive opportunity that trauma is seen to present to stimulate reconstruction on a grand scale.

Sharing or not sharing? Balancing uncertainties after cancer in urban Norway

“…The everyday was not primarily a representation of the time-aspect, as present time or a moment of being, but a contexts for social relations and a basis for living a good life. What did not seem to be at stake was a focus on personal growth or 'remaking the self' as other studies have found, for example Bell (2012). This does not mean that none of the participants had made lifestyle changes, for instance increasing physical activity, eating more vegetables, or practicing meditation.…”

Constructing embodied identity in a ‘new’ ageing population: A qualitative study of the pioneer cohort of childhood liver transplant recipients in the UK

“…These pioneering cohorts have rarely been the subject of sociological or anthropological enquiry, for example to what extent they challenge the theory that their lives have been biographically disrupted (Bury 1982), and, if so, whether childhood organ transplantation as a biographical disruption could be seen as a unique opportunity to develop the self (Bell 2012), or whether today's young organ recipients conceptualise their identities more in context with their donor (Sharp 1995). In addition, what opportunities exist for narrative reconstruction (Williams 1984), and what sort of social conditions might support and legitimate particular identities, are also areas that need to be examined.…”

“…This is seen for example in the post-diagnosis longevity of those now surviving various forms of cancer (Trusson et al 2016). Innovative cancer treatment has given rise to a public and professional discourse of survival as opposed to death, with a dominant view seeing survivorship as being an opportunity for individuals to strive to become something better than they were before diagnosis (Bell 2012). In contrast, individual experiences of cancer survivorship underline alienation from this conceptualisation, e.g.…”

Experienced meditators, cancer survivors, and matched controls assemble different neural resources to process emotion

“…As an outcome of meaning making, cancer survivors often experience significant changes in identity (e.g., Cordova et al, 2007Cordova et al, , 2007Kashdan & Kane, 2011;Park, Zlateva, & Blank, 2009). For example, cancer survivors may experience greater resilience, personal growth, and experiential acceptance; alternatively they may identify as victims, experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and become depressed (e.g., Bell, 2012;Bullen et al, 2012;Jim & Jacobsen, 2008). Finally, meaning making and identity development may produce changes in the quality of life (e.g., Komura & Hegarty, 2006;Linley & Joseph, 2004;Mystakidou et al, 2007;Park, Lechner, Antoni, & Stanton, 2009).…”