Maintaining the Balance in a Juvenile Diabetic Clinic

Author: Goldberg David  

Publisher: Routledge Ltd

ISSN: 1364-8470

Source: Anthropology & Medicine, Vol.13, Iss.3, 2006-12, pp. : 237-251

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Abstract

A paediatric diabetic clinic is described by a child psychiatrist, using a series of models from within and outside child psychiatry: biochemical, behavioural, systemic and cultural. Descriptions pivoted around the term, balance. ‘Balance' is seen as a metaphor that structured the author's understanding of the dilemmas faced by the participants. The paper then places this meaning-based approach in the context of power: power over resources, authority over knowledge and responsibility for others. The clinic is understood as an ongoing interchange between meaning- and power-based views. The claim is that liaison child psychiatry needs cultural or anthropological approaches to appreciate the complexities of everyday medical work.