Citation

Mildorf J. Narrat. Inq. 2002; 12(2): 233-260.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, John Benjamins Publishing)

DOI

10.1075/ni.12.2.02mil

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A major part of physicians' work consists of analyzing the symptoms a patient presents in a consultation. Doctors interpret the signs and then make a diagnosis. In a sense, they 'read the patient as text' (Hunter, 1991) and finally create their own narrative of the case. A collection of cases thus becomes the knowledge base doctors draw upon over the years. Yet, what happens if the problem the patient presents with cannot be explained in terms of the biomedical model alone? Combining insights from cognitive psychology and socio‐linguistic narrative analysis, this article investigates how doctors' stories about their experiences with patients suffering domestic violence indicate the way physicians conceptualize and construct linguistically their knowledge about the problem. 36 narratives produced by 20 general practitioners in in‐depth interviews form the basis of a close comparative analysis with special focus on evaluative devices. (Medical narratives, Domestic violence, Sociolinguistic narrative analysis, General Practitioners)