Earlier today, I listened to a radio programme about ‘controlling health’, about how illness and injuries can challenge the sense of control that we think we have over our bodies in modern society. There were several guests, each with a different take on the way people try to control health, illness and disease. I was particularly struck by Maria Hyland, a woman with multiple sclerosis who talked about her experience of life before and after MS. From a sociological perspective Maria had spent most of her life seeking ‘success’ and so, when she received a medical diagnosis of MS, she initially it secret, feeling that her illness marked her as impaired and a failure. She described her MS diagnosis as a shock and embarrassment, that marked her out as ‘different’ and that challenged her own sense of control. Hence it took her four years to accept her illness in a way that allowed her to redefine her own identity and find a new way to live with her illness in society. Springing out to wider social analysis, the guests on the programme then talked about how different societies and cultures think about 'controlling health' - they contrasted Chinese culture (where people tend to focus more on a search for balance and harmony) with ancient Rome (where people tended to focus more on restraint).
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