Paper Patients: When Documents Stand in for Patients

This article analyses a seemingly mundane feature of mental health centre for immigrants and refugees in Paris: the documents used by budding therapists undertaking their apprenticeships. Supervisors developed these order to train therapist apprentices learn explanatory models patients, identify voice incorporate medical anthropology into therapeutic practice. The were central experiences because they occupied most time substitute supervision patient contact. Documents disciplined speech focused attention on specific aspects patients’ histories. Therapist found documentary practices be problematic reduced complex migration histories series tick boxes short answers. These generated new forms uncertainty among about how present clinical information patients supervisors. is part larger study that considers services as communities practice which learned develop caring skills vulnerable populations. By drawing contributing scholarship apprenticeship, uncertainty, documents, bureaucracy, this demonstrates bureaucratic processes artefacts may generate unnecessary hinder participation