Chandler, A., King, C., Burton, C.D. orcid.org/0000-0003-0233-2431 et al. (1 more author) (2020) The social life of self-harm in general practice. Social Theory and Health, 18 (3). pp. 240-256. ISSN 1477-8211
Abstract
Research engaging qualitatively with clinical practitioners’ understanding of, and response to, self-harm has been limited. Self-harm offers a particularly compelling case through which to examine the enduring challenges faced by practitioners in treating patients whose presenting symptoms are not clearly biomedical in nature. In this paper, we present an analysis of 30 General Practitioners’ (GPs’) accounts of treating patients who had self-harmed. Our analysis demonstrates the complex ways in which GPs seek to make sense of self-harm. Illustrated through three common ‘types’ of patients (the ‘good girl’, the ‘problem patient’ and the ‘out of the blue’), we show how GPs grapple with ideas of ‘social’ and ‘psychological’ causes of self-harm. We argue that these tensions emerge in different ways according to the social identities of patients, with accounts shaped by local contexts, including access to specialist services, as well as by cultural understandings regarding the legitimacy of self-harming behaviour. We suggest that studying the social life of self-harm in general practice extends a sociological analysis of self-harm more widely, as well as contributing to sociological theorisation on the doctor–patient relationship.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Springer Nature Limited 2020. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Social Theory and Health. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Self-harm; General practice; Primary care; Doctor–patient relationship; Qualitative |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 May 2020 12:52 |
Last Modified: | 19 Nov 2021 16:09 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan (part of Springer Nature) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1057/s41285-020-00139-9 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:160543 |