In recent years the study of illness as experienced by patients has emerged as an approach to understanding sickness. Descriptions of the everyday situations of people with particular diseases provide a commentary upon the nature of symptoms and upon the relation of the body to society. This approach stresses the biographical and cultural contexts in which illness arises and is borne by individuals and those who care for them. It emphasizes the need to understand illness in terms of the patients' own interpretation, of its onset, the course of its progress and the potential of the treatment for the condition. Worlds of Illness examines people's experience of illness and their understanding of what it means to be healthy. It brings together for the first time in one volume contributors from a variety of fields who use a biographic and cultural approach. Worlds of Illness will be invaluable to all social science researchers, especially to lecturers and students of medical sociology, psychology and anthropology.
Joan Anderson, Professor, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Canada Paul Bellaby, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of East Anglia Alan Blair, Mildr
