To be or not to appear tired: When the « good patient » takes the stage
Abstract
The contemporary doxa of resilience encourages sick people to adopt a positive, combative and voluntary attitude, which is seen as a necessary condition for overcoming illness. The daily lives of today’s patients are all the more governed by these implicit expectations because the majority of them are now affected by chronic illnesses. No longer confined to the sidelines of social life, these persons live alongside the healthy. Exposed to the gaze of health professionals and their loved ones alike, they are required to constantly demonstrate their fighting spirit. This involves emotional work aimed at concealing their vulnerabilities and difficulties, thereby preserving the ordinary quality of their interactions. Playing the role of good patient, which is sometimes at odds with their personal experiences, requires a great deal of effort and becomes an additional burden. By analysing the discourse of people living with cancer interviewed during a study devoted to fatigue, this article proposes a sociological examination of this symptom.
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BibTeX
@article{poupard2026appear,
title = {{To be or not to appear tired: When the « good patient » takes the stage}},
author = {Victor Poupard and Stéphane Héas and Omar Zanna},
journal = {Anthropologie et Santé},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.4000/158nh},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05765966v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - To be or not to appear tired: When the « good patient » takes the stage
AU - Victor Poupard
AU - Stéphane Héas
AU - Omar Zanna
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/27
JO - Anthropologie et Santé
DO - 10.4000/158nh
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05765966v1
AB - The contemporary doxa of resilience encourages sick people to adopt a positive, combative and voluntary attitude, which is seen as a necessary condition for overcoming illness. The daily lives of today’s patients are all the more governed by these implicit expectations because the majority of them are now affected by chronic illnesses. No longer confined to the sidelines of social life, these persons live alongside the healthy. Exposed to the gaze of health professionals and their loved ones alike, they are required to constantly demonstrate their fighting spirit. This involves emotional work aimed at concealing their vulnerabilities and difficulties, thereby preserving the ordinary quality of their interactions. Playing the role of good patient, which is sometimes at odds with their personal experiences, requires a great deal of effort and becomes an additional burden. By analysing the discourse of people living with cancer interviewed during a study devoted to fatigue, this article proposes a sociological examination of this symptom.
SN - 2111-5028
ER -