Self-care and complementary and alternative medicine as care for the self: An embodied basis for distinction

Abstract

Based on interviews with users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), this study demonstrates that the use of CAM as self-care is a central means by which embodied expressions of identity are enacted. Binary oppositions between biomedicine and CAM provide users with a discursive framework for pursuing distinction with their self-care choices. The self-care practices of this group of CAM users are conceptualised as an aesthetic project, providing an embodied mark of distinction.

Keywords:

• self-care
• health lifestyles
• embodiment
• complementary and alternative medicine
• health sociology