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Review
. 2019 Jul 15;14(1):9.
doi: 10.1186/s13010-019-0078-3.

Narrativity and medicine: some critical reflections

Rolf Ahlzén  1
Affiliations
Review

Narrativity and medicine: some critical reflections

Rolf Ahlzén. Philos Ethics Humanit Med. .

Abstract

During the last three decades there has been a wave of interest in narrative and narrativity in the humanistic and the social sciences. This "narrative turn" has spilled over to medicine, where narrative medicine has gained a considerable influence.However, there have also appeared second thoughts on the role of narratives in our lives, as well as on what narratives may mean in relation to clinical medicine.This article presents some influential voices in this debate and scrutinizes the assumptions of narrative medicine in the light of these. It is concluded that there are sound reasons to tread this path with some caution and avoid the too far reaching ambitions on behalf of narrativity in relation to clinical medicine. However, narrative medicine should still be seen as a promising attempt within the broader scope of medical humanities to emphasize the importance of human subjectivity in clinical medicine.

Keywords: Clinical encounter; Empathy; Narrative; Narrative medicine; Narrativity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares that he/she has no competing interests.

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