This book is about the doing and experiencing of diagnosis in everyday life. Diagnoses are
revealed as interactive negotiations rather than as the assigning of diagnostic labels. The
authors demonstrate through detailed discourse analyses how the diagnostic process depends on
power and accountability as expressed through the talk of those engaged in the diagnostic
process. The authors also show that diagnostic decisions are not only made by professional
experts trained in the art and science of diagnosis but they can also be made by anyone trying
to figure out the nature of everyday problems. Finally diagnostic reasoning is found to extend
beyond typical diagnostic situations occurring in unexpected places such as written letters of
recommendation and talk about the nature of communication. Together the chapters in this book
demonstrate how diagnosis is a communication practice deeply rooted in our culture. The book is
interdisciplinary and unusually broad in its focus. The authors come from different
experiential scholarly backgrounds. Each of them takes a different look at the impact and
nature of the diagnostic process. The diagnoses discussed include autism Alzheimer's disease
speech and language disorders and menopause. The focus is not only on the here and now of the
diagnostic interaction but also on how diagnoses and diagnostic processes change over time.
The book can serve as an undergraduate or graduate text for courses offered in various
disciplines including communication sociology anthropology communication disorders
audiology linguistics medicine and disability studies.
