What Is The Doctor Helen Epstein's Theory Of Social Cohesion?

1583 Words4 Pages

When one is fighting a battle, whether it be a battle with war or a battle with illness, that person cannot do it alone. This belief is shared by many, including the inspirational Doctors Helen Epstein and Anne Hallward. Dr. Epstein travelled to South Africa where she developed her theory of social cohesion, which she believes could help eliminate the high rates of HIV and AIDS. While there she observed Y-centers, where the campaign LoveLife tried to educate the younger generation of sexual responsibility. Dr. Hallward believes that many hold a small bit of shame within them, and that it is toxic to keep it hidden. She believes personal and shameful stories should be shared with others for the heavy weight of stress from shame to go away, so she created Safe Space Radio so those stories could be heard. If a victim of AIDS were to connect
Anne Hallword’s theory of sharing personal stories that could lead to social change. Hallward has hundreds of guests appear on her radio show, Safe Space, where they can talk about any issues that a guest may have had, or still do have. The goal is for the story to not only help the guest feel less ashamed of their past, but to help listeners who may share the same shame connect and also feel better about it. The main idea of social cohesion is to create trusted connections with others and be able to talk openly about painful topics, which is what is trying to do. Although, can one justly establish a bond with someone who they have only heard on the radio, or maybe talked with online? This is where the debate of the true meaning of social cohesion begins. Hallward had guest Art Frank on her show to discuss his bad luck with deadly illnesses, and how he coped with the diseases by storytelling. Frank claimed,
Suffering is mitigated, when we feel someone else is being an authentic witness. When we see one other person who sees what we are going through and really gets it, it

Open Document