Contemporary methods in medical anthropology to explore serious illness-associated suffering

Introduction: Serious illness is a condition that carries a high risk of mortality, negatively impacts quality of life and daily function, and/or is burdensome in symptoms, treatments, or caregiver stress. This in turn can bring about multifarious forms of suffering, ranging from difficult physical symptoms and painful treatments to changing social relations and existential/spiritual distress. Medical anthropology offers a diverse array of methodologies to study illness-associated suffering. Objectives: In this article, we explore several contemporary methods in medical anthropology to address and study illness-associated suffering. Our overview covers methods that explore both the embodied first-person perspective of illness-associated suffering and the broader socio-cultural and political forces that influence our conceptions about ourselves, suffering and how illness is treated. Methods: Literature review. Results: This investigation highlights not only the powerful tools available in medical anthropology to examine illness-associated suffering but also the multidimensional nature of illness, personhood and suffering, which calls for an equally multimodal way of studying and addressing suffering. Conclusions: In the concluding chapter, we offer a few suggestions for future medical anthropology research and reflect on how to take into account the wholeness of a person and their relations, when trying to understand the nature of illness-associated suffering.