Search Conferences

Type in any word, words or author name. This searchs through the abstract title, keywords and abstract text and authors. You may search all conferences or just select one conference.


 All Conferences
 EMAC 2019 Annual Conference
 EMAC 2020 Annual Conference
 EMAC 2020 Regional Conference
 EMAC 2021 Annual Conference
 EMAC 2021 Regional Conference
 EMAC 2022 Annual
 EMAC 2022 Regional Conference
 EMAC 2023 Annual
 EMAC 2023 Regional Conference
 EMAC 2024 Annual
 EMAC 2024 Regional Conference

EMAC 2024 Annual


How to maintain alternative medicines consumption? Community learning about illnesses of the mind and inauthentic identity
(A2024-119674)

Published: May 28, 2024

AUTHORS

Paul Pasquier, Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne; Anthony Galluzzo, Université de Saint Etienne

ABSTRACT

While alternative medicines serve to address the deficiencies in conventional healthcare, their limited medical efficacy poses constraints on sustained usage. In this article, we illustrate that consumers maintain their reliance on alternative remedies by acquiring a therapeutic framework that attributes illnesses to mental states. Through pathologizing their psychological conditions, perceived as outcomes of an externally imposed social identity, users of alternative medicine embark on a protracted therapeutic journey to forge a new identity considered authentic or natural, conducive to healing. The lack of improvement in health resulting from this therapeutic process is not interpreted as a reflection of the therapy's ineffectiveness, but rather as a personal shortcoming on the part of the patient in discovering their true identity. This may lead to a purposeless pursuit of identity, entailing financial, health, and social risks.