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Blind to Their Blindness: A History of the Denial of Illness

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2014-06-06

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Phelps, Scott Douglas. 2014. Blind to Their Blindness: A History of the Denial of Illness. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.

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Abstract

For many historians, sociologists, and anthropologists of medicine, "disease" and "illness" are not equivalent. Whereas "disease" denotes the physician's ostensibly objective criteria, "illness" emphasizes the patient's subjective experience. This dissertation examines that distinction precisely at a point where it breaks down, in the history of a diagnosis called "anosognosia," also known as the denial of illness.

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History of science, Mental health, Neurosciences, Anosognosia, Consciousness, Denial of illness, History of psychiatry and neurology, Mind-brain problem, Patient experience

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