This open access book explores how expertise about bipolar disorder is performed on American and French digital platforms by combining insights from STS, medical sociology and media studies. It addresses topical questions, including: How do different stakeholders engage with online technologies to perform expertise about bipolar disorder? How does the use of the internet for processes of knowledge evaluation and production allow for people diagnosed with bipolar disorder to reposition themselves in relation to medical professionals? How do cultural markers shape the online performance of expertise about bipolar disorder? And what individualizing or collectivity-generating effects does the internet have in relation to the performance of expertise? The book constitutes a critical and nuanced intervention into dominant discourses which approach the internet either as a quick technological fix or as a postmodern version of Pandora’s box, sowing distrust among people and threatening unified conceptualizations and organized forms of knowledge.
Author(s): Claudia Egher
Series: Health, Technology and Society
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 263
City: Singapore
Series Editors’ Preface
Acknowledgments
About This Book
Praise for Digital Healthcare and Expertise
Contents
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
List of Figures
1: Studying Expertise Online
Theoretical Approaches to Expertise
A New Approach to Expertise
Bipolar Disorder
Studying Expertise About Bipolar Disorder Online
Methods and Sources
Outline of the Remaining Chapters
References
2: Epistemic Inroads from the Asylum to Digital Psychiatry
Historical Overview of the Development of Expertise About Mental Health
Self-help and Support Groups
Mental Healthcare in the US and France
Digital and AI-Based Technologies in Mental Healthcare
References
3: The Drama of Expertise About Bipolar Disorder Online
The Internet in Mental Healthcare in France and the US
Technical Challenges: Accessibility Regulations for Online Platforms
Epistemic and Social Challenges: Critique of Psychiatry and Divergent Interests
Rhetoric and the Performance of Expertise Online
Performative Techniques and Online Expertise About Bipolar Disorder
NIMH and the Quest for the Redefinition of Bipolar Disorder
The Role of Sign Equipment in NIMH’s Performance on Bipolar Disorder
HAS’ Performative Techniques to Redefine Bipolar Disorder
The Role of Sign Equipment in HAS’ Performance of Expertise
Discussion
References
4: Tactical Re-appraisals and Digitally Informed Hypotheses About the Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
Problematizing Patient Engagement
Lay Expertise and Bipolar Disorder
Studying Tactics Online
Three Characteristics of Medical Knowledge on the Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
Engaging with Medical Knowledge About the Treatment of Bipolar Disorder Online
Uncertainty
Complexity
Individualization
Discussion
References
5: Online Expert Mediators: Expanding Interactional Expertise
Greater Mental Health Patient Engagement and the Internet
Two Bloggers on Bipolar Disorder
Theoretical Approaches to Interactional Expertise
Tracing the Development of a New Stakeholder Category
Technical Prowess
Interactional Expertise
A Strong Media Presence
Online Practices and Theoretical Implications for Interactional Expertise
Substantial Interactions and Bi-directionality
Interactional Expertise and the Use of a Specific Medium
Discussion
References
6: Digital Biocommunities: Solidarity and Lay Expertise About Bipolar Disorder
The Individualization of Healthcare: Solidarity Under Threat
The Meaning of Solidarity
Solidarity and Idioms of Practice
Lay Expertise and Affective Labor
Solidarity About Bipolar Disorder Online
Relevant Similarities
Performing Solidarity
Digital Biocommunities and Their Roles
Solidarity and Lay Expertise
Discussion
References
7: Expertise in the Age of Big Data
The Online Performance of Expertise About Bipolar Disorder
Different Stakeholder’s Use of the Internet
People Diagnosed, Medical Professionals, and the Internet
Cultural Markers and Expertise on Bipolar Disorder Online
The Internet and its Individualizing or Collectivity-Generating Effects in Relation to Expertise
Knowledge Production in the Digital Age: Contributions
References
Index
