Popular media and 'excessive daytime sleepiness': a study of rhetorical authority in medical sociology.

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8205036 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0141-9889 (Print) Linking ISSN: 01419889 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sociol Health Illn Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2003->: Oxford ; Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishing
Original Publication: Henley-on-Thames ; Boston, Mass. : Routledge & Kegan Paul,

Attitude to Health* ; Bibliometrics* ; Mass Media* ; Sociology, Medical*; Disorders of Excessive Somnolence/*psychology; Health Services Research ; Humans ; Periodicals as Topic ; Persuasive Communication ; United States

Problem sleepiness is emerging as a medical problem in the US and Britain. Though an increasingly salient complaint, clinical medicine is only peripherally involved in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep troubles. Paramount in shaping public perceptions and experiences of sleep are the popular media. The apparent chasm between self-reported sleep troubles and the routine medical gaze is the point of departure for this inquiry. Aided by the idea of rhetorical authority, a case is made for the conspicuous influence of newspapers, magazines and the Internet in shaping a persuasive cultural directive to become conscious of soporific states and their possible deleterious consequences. Attending to this cultural directive, a growing number of people are self-diagnosing with a novel sleep disorder, excessive daytime sleepiness. The increasing significance of popular culture in the creation of medical troubles summons an alternative version of medical sociology. A limited case for this claim is made by revisiting two key ideas in this field: naming diseases and the classic distinction between illness and disease.

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Date Created: 20030816 Date Completed: 20031210 Latest Revision: 20191107

20221213

10.1111/1467-9566.00362

12919449