Wellbeing, Selfhood and Subjectivity

Abstract

Complementary and alternative medicines have been conceptualized as solutions to medical complaints, as forms of health maintenance, as well as ‘treats’ for the mind and the body (Thomas et al. 2001a; Bishop et al. 2008). The stories of clients and practitioners, however, reveal an even more complex picture about complementary and alternative health practices and about the kind of health these practices are used to produce. Rather than physiological health only, the rise of holistic health practices is intertwined with a broad notion of wellbeing; it is wellbeing rather than mere health that matters to many clients (Sointu 2006a). This chapter outlines and analyses ideas of wellbeing as they echo through the stories of clients and practitioners.

You can either be aware or you can be unaware of what you do. And in the case, the latter case, problems will occur.

(Jan — a client and a practitioner)