I yrken där möten med människor står i centrum behöver de inblandade alltid i någon mån träda fram för varandra. För att klienten, brukaren, medborgaren, besökaren, patienten eller eleven ska få rätt stöd, hjälp, behandling eller utbildning räcker det inte att förstå denna endast som ett exemplar av en kategori. För att besluta sig för vad som är rätt att göra behöver man i någon mån förstå vem man har framför sig och i vilken situation denna befinner sig. Här räcker sällan dokumentation i form av journalanteckningar eller betyg. Det som krävs är ett (eller flera) möte(n) med individen där hen får möjlighet att träda fram. Men som levande varelse öppnar vi oss sällan för vem som helst. För att berätta, visa eller ta reda på vem man är och vad man behöver hjälp och stöd med behöver man någon att träda fram för, någon som man känner bryr sig och som man har förtroende för. Således måste även yrkesmänniskan i någon mån träda fram som yrkesperson. Denna antologi tematiserar, exemplifierar och teoretiserar sådana framträdelser i ett flertal mellanmänskliga yrken, hos sjuksköterskan, läkaren, läraren, bibliotekarien, psykologen och samtalsledaren.

In the research and literature on pain-related suffering, a difference has recently been made between suffering processes of the minimal self in contrast to the hardships of the narrative self. This article proposes that an in-between layer of selfhood needs to be distinguished and studied to understand pain-related suffering in a more thorough manner: the enworlded self. Pain-related suffering is a complex phenomenon involving mood-related processes and everyday challenges on at least three different levels: lived bodily experiences, lifeworld matters, and questions about personal identity. These three different levels correspond to three connected aspects of layered selfhood: the minimal self, the enworlded self, and the narrative self. By using a published memoire focusing on chronic pain experiences, this article attempts to enlighten the middle ground of enworlded selfhood and also identifies two different regions of the lifeworld in which the damaging and alienating experiences take their toll: the work-world and the family-world. In addition, a third region of the lifeworld is identified: the patient-world, a region which is formed and expands as the chronic-pain sufferer searches for medical-professional advice and assistance. By addressing the three different layers of selfhood and how they interact in the everyday life of the patient, chronic-pain suffering can be better understood and, also, possibly alleviated by taking appropriate measures that fit the attuned pattern of the pain experiences of each individual.

Professional empathy in health care is a feeling with, about, and for the patient that opens up a world to be explored by way of imagination and dialogue. The concern is professional in nature because it deals with the patient precisely as a person the health care professional has the duty to aid in respect of her education and position. The biomedical paradigm needs to be balanced and combined in the clinical encounter with an empathic perspective, focusing upon the experiences and everyday life of the patient, since the doctor and other health care professionals meet not only with a potentially diseased biological organism, but also with a person who is suffering and in need of professional help.

In a scientific report published 2003 a psychiatric research group in Sweden proposed to the National Board of Health and Welfare that a new diagnosis with the name "exhaustion disorder" ("utmattningssyndrom") (ED) should be created in the Swedish diagnostic system. Two years later the board approved the proposal and the diagnosis was registred in the Swedish version of ICD-10. Since 2005 the prevalence of ED in Sweden has gradually increased and at the current date more than 40 000 people are on long-term sick leave as a result of the diagnosis. Interestingly, there is no corresponding medical diagnosis outside of Sweden, although patients in other countries are declared ill with similar symptoms, receiving other diagnoses, such as burnout, depression, acute stress or adjustment disorder. In this paper, the history of ED is told and an attempt is made to answer the question why it has come to exist and prevail in Sweden despite no evidence of validity. The analysis is performed by scrutinizing the criteria for the diagnosis and how it has been connected to the granting of sick leave in the Swedish social insurance system. In conjunction with this, a phenomenological analysis is provided of how ED has been named and interpreted in the Swedish society as a particular form of life-narrative pattern. This pattern of break-down and rebuild of a more in-tune-with-nature version of oneself in recovering from ED is found in Swedish popular culture, and it is supported by academic studies, self-help books and the strategies of rehabcenters.

This chapter introduces the tradition of hermeneutics in philosophy and related fields, focusing specifically on applied hermeneutics. It highlights the connection between hermeneutics and phenomenology and delves into the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, a key figure in modern hermeneutics. The chapter examines how understanding and explanation function as methodologies in the humanities and natural sciences. Special attention is given to how hermeneutics can be applied when analyzing empirical data or understanding different human professions. Additionally, the chapter explores the relationship between hermeneutics and ethics.

Den engelska filosofen Miranda Frickers syn på rättvisa är på väg att revolutionera västvärldens tänkande. Varje dag publiceras över ett dussin böcker och artiklar om epistemisk rättvisa.