On embodiment: a case study of congenital limb deficiency in American culture.

The relationship of mind and body is an issue of importance for Western medicine and psychiatry. An area to which this problem particularly applies is that of physical disability. In evaluating treatment of persons with physical disabilities, the concept of "adjustment" in social psychology may not deal sufficiently with ambiguities arising in varied cultural settings. The related concept of "stigma" in sociology is also limited, covering the cosmetic aspect of the mind-body relationship only. This paper applies the more abstract and inclusive concept of "embodiment" from the phenomenological movement in philosophy to the life history of a 35-year-old American woman born with quadrilateral limb deficiencies. The resulting description of her functioning and self-image over time calls into question the cultural assumptions of rehabilitation medicine and highlights the more general cultural demands upon persons with severe physical disabilities in the United States since the 1950s.