Purging the emotions: the lack of emotional expression in subfertility and in the care of the dying.
The paper examines emotional expression by drawing on data from patients in two contrasting situations; interview data from couples attending fertility clinics, and audio-recorded conversations with terminally ill patients being cared for at home. Although the literature on subfertility and terminal illness frequently uses a bereavement model to argue for the importance of overt grieving, patients in these studies did not express a wish to discuss their feelings. This finding raises questions about how patients' needs are defined, and whether emotions may be created by discourse.
South East Thames Regional Health Authority, U.K.
M
M
Hunt
L
L
Meerabeau
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012650:Self Disclosure; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*