On the podcast is Cindie Maagaard

Today's guest is Dr. Cindie Maagaard, an associate professor at the Department of Language and Communication at the University of Southern Denmark. She holds a Ph.D. in postmodern English literature. Since 2010, her passion for narratives has turned to investigate organizational communication. Since 2016 her research has increasingly focused on how narratives are used in contexts of health and medicine to help health professionals and patients understand and communicate about illness - and she is one of the leading experts in the field. 

Cindie has published research articles and book chapters on narrative medicine and is the co-editor of a brand new anthology of Danish and international literature written by and about patients and doctors. 

On narrative medicine

A starting point for narrative medicine is that any medical perspective includes a patient's life experiences and relationships, worries, hopes, desires, and more. These perspectives are integrated into a medical perspective. 

On communicating more empathetically through narratives

Give the patient time in the beginning to talk, maybe beginning with a question. Tell me what I need to know about your situation and why you are here? And give the patient time to unfold that. 

Practice attention by reading. 

Show notes:
Recommendations from Cindie

• The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine
• The Wounded Storyteller
• Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and its Metaphors