ABSTRACT
The nature and aims of phenomenology are concerned with understanding human experiences in their contexts and their complexity. Thus, the need to consider the context of the experience of inflicted pain is an integral part of phenomenological inquiry. What constitutes the context of a particular experience, however, can be open to debate. The research on which this book is based began with the idea that the physical and social environment of the hospital, the presence of illness and injuries, the impact of treatment, and the concerns about recovery might be important facets of the context in which patients experience inflicted pain. In many respects, these factors are relevant to the aim of understanding in context. I also commenced the research aware of the centrality of the idea of embodiment in the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty and its potential significance for understanding human pain. However, it was only later, in the process of reflection on some of the early findings, that I became aware of the connections between patients’ experiences of changes to their embodied selves and what, for them, constituted the context of their lived experiences. In other words, clinically inflicted pain affects people already unsettled by changes brought about by illness or injury, people who may be hurting, scared, confused, or angry, people who for a time at least have lost the taken-for-granted familiarity with their own bodies.
