‘I Feel I Am Not Human’: Investigating the Relationship between Discourse and Subjectivity in the Lives of Persons Experiencing Panic Attacks

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Kenneth G. Wilson ◽  
Kerry McLuckie

The study described in this paper investigated the ways in which panic and panic disorder are socially constructed, and how these constructions are involved in the formation of the subjectivities of those persons experiencing panic. In adopting a social constructionist perspective, it is proposed that all understandings of panic are informed by the social and historical contexts from which they emerge. The study investigates how linguistic practices, organised into different discourses, construct accounts of panic which go on to constitute particular forms of knowledge about panic. Discourse analysis was used to analyse media articles, radio interviews, and other examples of “panic talk”. The analysis yielded discourses that are involved in the construction and understanding of panic as a phenomenon. It was noted that panic was constructed in terms of abnormality, as a treatable condition, as an internal problem, and as an agent that has the potential to change people. The construction of panic according to these discourses had significant effects on the formation of subjectivity, in that it contributed to the formation of a “compromised” self that was “always-already” different, and abnormal. Lastly it was noted that the construction of subjectivity in these terms was related to discursive practices, involving the regulation of self.

Author(s):  
Karim Murji

This chapter explores the debates on what race is. For some time, the dominant social constructionist approach in the social sciences has insisted that the only proper way to regard race is by refuting any connection with biology. Attention to the many ways in which race is socially constructed has been important; but, while a construction is not ‘unreal’, there is a common further step in which race is thereby deemed to be not valid. The rejection of race tends to treat race as something that would be ‘real’ if it were located in science and biology. The chapter then shows how recent developments in the natural sciences and changing views on the relationship between the natural and social sciences problematise that view. Yet in opposition to post-race views, critical scholars can then be seen to draw on conventional categories of race to show that racialised inequality still matters.


2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Hope Alkon ◽  
Michael Traugot

This article investigates the relationship between environmental policy and the social construction of place in two neighboring California counties. We examine two counties with dramatic geographic and sociodemographic differences that drew on similar place narratives in order to justify collaborative solutions to agricultural–environmental conflicts. Each narrative trumpets the importance of agriculture to each county's place character and praises the ability of well–intentioned county residents to work together. Our cases illuminate two processes through which place is socially constructed with regard to extralocal factors: place comparison allows residents to highlight potential risks by contrasting their own places with others while place meta–narratives allow actors to draw on culturally available notions of types of places. We conclude by discussing the relationship between place narratives and other factors that can affect policy choice, and therefore, shape the landscape itself.


Hypatia ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir

Social construction theorists face a certain challenge to the effect that they confuse the epistemic and the metaphysical: surely our conceptions of something are influenced by social practices, but that doesn't show that the nature of the thing in question is so influenced. In this paper I take up this challenge and offer a general framework to support the claim that a human kind is socially constructed, when this is understood as a metaphysical claim and as a part of a social constructionist debunking project. I give reasons for thinking that a conferralist framework is better equipped to capture the social constructionist intuition than rival accounts of social properties, such as a constitution account and a response‐dependence account, and that this framework helps to diagnose what is at stake in the debate between the social constructionists and their opponents. The conferralist framework offered here should be welcomed by social constructionists looking for firm foundations for their claims, and for anyone else interested in the debate over the social construction of human kinds.


2011 ◽  
pp. 2768-2787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel McLean ◽  
Nigel M. Blackie

This chapter constructs the concept of e-commerce as knowledge management. The socially constructed approach to knowledge management is adopted. Through qualitative research, rooted in the Social Constructionist-Critical Theory paradigm, the chapter examines how consumers use the Internet in commercially related activity. Through semi-structured interviews with consumers three main themes are identified and explored (interaction with commercial organizations, consumer-to-consumer interaction, power and control in business-to-consumer interaction). The chapter concludes that the Internet facilitates the construction and sharing of knowledge amongst consumers, but appears to strengthen barriers and boundaries between consumers and companies. An illustration of how companies could effectively utilize the Internet to communicate with customers is offered in an analysis of a discussion forum.


2018 ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
María Martín Rodríguez ◽  
María Espada Mateos ◽  
David Moscoso Sánchez ◽  
José Emilio Jiménez-Beatty ◽  
José Antonio Santacruz Lozano ◽  
...  

Resumen: En este artículo se analizan los datos de un estudio sobre las demandas sociales de actividad física y deporte entre las personas adultas en España. En concreto, se estudia la relación existente entre las diferencias sociológicas de los individuos, según el tamaño demográfico de su municipio de residencia, nivel de estudios y clase social, y las demandas de actividad física o deporte. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo una investigación de carácter cuantitativo, consistente en la realización de una encuesta administrada de forma presencial a una muestra de 3.463 personas a escala nacional de una franja de edad de 30 a 64 años. La investigación fue financiada en el marco del Plan Nacional de I+D+i, del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación del Gobierno de España. Los resultados muestran diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los diversos tipos de demanda de actividad física o deporte, según el nivel de estudios finalizados y la clase social.Abstract:In this paper are analysed data from a study on the social demands of physical activity and sport among adults in Spain. Concretely, are studied the relationship between the sociological differences of individuals, according to the demographic size of their municipality of residence, level of education and social class, and the demands of physical activity or sport. In order to, a quantitative research has been carried out. This research consisted of the conduct of a survey administered presently to a sample of 3463 people to national scale in an age group of 30 to 64 years. The research was funded under the National Plan of I+D+i Plan of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain. The results show statistically significant differences between the diverse types of demand for physical activity or sport, according to the level of studies completed and social class.


1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
MY Ağargün ◽  
H Kara

SummaryThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of sleep panic to major depression in patients with panic disorder. We found that the patients with sleep panic had a higher prevalence of major depression than subjects of other panic disorders.


2011 ◽  
pp. 1618-1637
Author(s):  
Rachel McLean ◽  
Nigel M. Blackie

This chapter constructs the concept of e-commerce as knowledge management. The socially constructed approach to knowledge management is adopted. Through qualitative research, rooted in the Social Constructionist-Critical Theory paradigm, the chapter examines how consumers use the Internet in commercially related activity. Through semi-structured interviews with consumers three main themes are identified and explored (interaction with commercial organizations, consumer-to-consumer interaction, power and control in business-to-consumer interaction). The chapter concludes that the Internet facilitates the construction and sharing of knowledge amongst consumers, but appears to strengthen barriers and boundaries between consumers and companies. An illustration of how companies could effectively utilize the Internet to communicate with customers is offered in an analysis of a discussion forum.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander M. Talkovsky ◽  
Peter J. Norton

The cognitive model of panic (Clark, 1988) suggests that panic attacks result from the catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations rather than the sensations themselves. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is fear of anxious bodily sensations (Reiss, 1991) and has implications in panic development, maintenance, and severity. Although previous work has demonstrated that AS amplifies symptoms in response to provocations, few have analyzed the role of AS in the relationship between panic symptoms and panic disorder severity. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if AS, a cognitive risk for panic, has an indirect effect on the association between self-reported panic symptoms and panic severity, both self-reported and clinician-assessed, among 67 treatment-seeking individuals with a primary diagnosis of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. Data were analyzed using the bootstrapped conditional process indirect effects model. Results indicated that the overall total mediational effect on Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) was significant with evidence of partial mediation. The direct effect of Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) on PDSS remained significant although there was also a significant indirect effect of BAI via AS. Results showed a similar relationship when Clinician Severity Rating was the outcome. Moderation analyses were not significant. Therefore, AS was a significant partial mediator of the relationship between symptom intensity and panic severity, whether clinician-rated or self-reported. This investigation provides support for the importance of AS in panic, highlighting its importance but suggesting that it is not sufficient to explain panic disorder.


2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 698-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Sardinha ◽  
Rafael Christophe da Rocha Freire ◽  
Walter Araújo Zin ◽  
Antonio Egidio Nardi

Multiple respiratory abnormalities can be found in anxiety disorders, especially in panic disorder (PD). Individuals with PD experience unexpected panic attacks, characterized by anxiety and fear, resulting in a number of autonomic and respiratory symptoms. Respiratory stimulation is a common event during panic attacks. The respiratory abnormality most often reported in PD patients is increased CO2 sensitivity, which has given rise to the hypothesis of fundamental abnormalities in the physiological mechanisms that control breathing in PD. There is evidence that PD patients with dominant respiratory symptoms are more sensitive to respiratory tests than are those who do not manifest such symptoms, and that the former group constitutes a distinct subtype. Patients with PD tend to hyperventilate and to panic in response to respiratory stimulants such as CO2, triggering the activation of a hypersensitive fear network. Although respiratory physiology seems to remain normal in these subjects, recent evidence supports the idea that they present subclinical abnormalities in respiration and in other functions related to body homeostasis. The fear network, composed of the hippocampus, the medial prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and its brain stem projections, might be oversensitive in PD patients. This theory might explain why medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy are both clearly effective. Our aim was to review the relationship between respiration and PD, addressing the respiratory subtype of PD and the hyperventilation syndrome, with a focus on respiratory challenge tests, as well as on the current mechanistic concepts and the pharmacological implications of this relationship.


1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Figlio

This paper is informed by the recent attempts to construct Marxist views of nature, by the lively historical work on 19th-century British class structure, and by the dedicated work of feminist historians of medicine. Using the common disease of adolescent girls, chlorosis, as an example of a real “physical” illness, I shall argue that disease is, in part, socially constructed. Not only is the social class of both doctor and patient an important determinant in the perception of illness, but so too is the relationship between the disease and the mode of production. Both the “existence” of chlorosis and the way it was understood served ideologically to conceal the growing importance of adolescent labor and the recognition of the social genesis of illness. In doing so, chlorosis was similar to other forms of chronic illness. In a time when the conditions of work were strikingly insalubrious, the etiological emphasis was on individual failure, not on physical or social conditions of work. I argue that notions of health and disease partake of the struggles and social relations of the society that sustains them, but in a way which hides that very social nature. In this sense, they are like Marx's concept of a commodity—and in being a commodity, diseases appear not to embody social relations, but rather to be part of nature. I suggest that we see this “nature” in part as a commodity fetish-something we construct as “other” for a reason-and that we rediscover the social in the natural.


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