Illness narratives: time, hope and HIV

Life-threatening diseases such as HIV/AIDS also threaten people's sense of identity and taken for granted assumptions about the temporal shape of their lives. In response, people often experience shifts in values, spirituality and life priorities. Drawing on a combined quantitative and qualitative study of people living with HIV/AIDS in Australia, three different narratives were identified that people use to make sense of their illness experiences: linear restorative narratives, linear chaotic narratives and polyphonic narratives. Linear narratives of illness colonise the future, assuming that it can be controlled through human action. They emphasise faith in medical science, tend to be secular and egocentric and assume that the end of life will occur in the distant future. Hope focuses on concrete outcomes, such as improved health or material well-being. Linear narratives can be restorative or chaotic. Restorative linear narratives predict a life that will mirror the narrative. Chaotic linear narratives predict a life that will not meet the linear ideal, leading to despair and depression. Polyphonic illness narratives, on the other hand, are oriented towards the present, emphasising the unpredictability of the future. These narratives tend to include spiritual experiences, a community-oriented value system and recount increased self-understanding and the acquisition of new insights as a result of their illness.