Meaningful links between physical stimuli and illness: Semiotic mediation in experiences of “catching the wolf” and “avoiding drafts”

Abstract

Physical and physiological experiences greatly differ in the degree to which they become meaningful elements of our narratives. Some experiences, however, are uniquely imbued with the power to evoke, or catalyze, the search for meaningful engagement with the environment. One such area is illness. This study examines differences in meaning-making processes involving commonplace experiences of physical sensations, particularly changes in temperature, and it does so within the uniquely charged context of illness. Semistructured interviews were conducted in two countries (Poland and the US). The data show interesting points of both convergence and divergence on the interpersonal, intergroup, and cross-situational levels. While we are all familiar with the particular physical experiences in question (drafts of air and sitting on a cold, hard surface), they are meaningful, and thus captured in participant narratives, only in some social contexts and/or only in conjunction with certain catalysts (e.g. illness). What is more, in the absence of such meaningful, shared explanatory tools, participants showed confusion as to the source of the illness. This study includes an exploration of the poetic notion of “catching the wolf” (a Polish expression for falling ill after sitting on a cold, hard surface).