title: Revealed identity: a study of the process of genetic counselling.
abstract: This paper describes a qualitative study of the processes employed within a genetic counselling consultation. These processes, it is argued, can be seen to provide the patient with a genetic identity. But unlike the new identity conferred by the diagnosis of many chronic medical conditions a genetic identity is presented as an old one that is now revealed. This represents a reversal of the stigmatising process: instead of a spoiled identity replacing an actual one, the genetic consultation involves revealing an actual identity in the place of a previously presumed one. In this way, genetic counselling reconstructs identity in the past as well as in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, London, UK.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Michie
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marteau
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D005817:Genetic Counseling; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations