A Harvard psychiatrist and anthropologist argues that interpreting the illness experience is an art tragically neglected by modern medical training, and presents a compelling case for bridging the gap between patient and doctor. Based on twenty years of clinical experience studying and treating chronic illness, a Harvard psychiatrist and anthropologist argues that diagnosing illness is an art tragically neglected by modern medical training, and presents a compelling case for bridging the gap between patient and doctor.

Based on twenty years of clinical experience studying and treating chronic illness, a Harvard psychiatrist and anthropologist argues that diagnosing illness is an art tragically neglected by modern medical training, and presents a compelling case for bridging the gap between patient and doctor.

Arthur Kleinman is Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University, and Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology and Chair of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of “Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture” (California, 1980), “Social Origins of Distress and Disease” (1986), “Rethinking Psychiatry” (1988), and “The Illness Narrative” (1988); coauthor of “World Mental Health” (1995); and coeditor of “Pain as Human Experience” (California, 1992) and “Culture and Depression” (California, 1985).