Why study narrative?

Summary points: The processes of getting ill, being ill, getting better (or getting worse), and coping (or failing to cope) with illness, can all be thought of as enacted narratives within the wider narratives (stories) of people's lives. Narratives of illness provide a framework forapproaching a patient's problems holistically, and may uncover diagnostic and therapeutic options. Taking a history is an interpretive act; interpretation (the discernment of meaning) is central to the analysis of narratives (for example, in literary criticism). Narratives offer a method for addressing existential qualities such as inner hurt, despair, hope, grief, and moral pain which frequently accompany, and may even constitute, people's illnesses.The lost tradition of narrative should be revived in the teaching and practice of medicine.