Some people might
think Larry Smarr is crazy. After collecting enormous amounts of data, Larry
arrived at his physician’s office with graphs and tables. Larry Smarr is not
crazy. In fact, astrophysicist Larry Smarr had discovered his Crohn’s disease
before medical science did and before he had noticeable symptoms. He contends
that individuals can take responsibility for and manage their own health and
that modern computing technology can help. In an article in The Atlantic, Mark Bowden recounts this tale of a man who realized
that an individual is an expert about his/her own body. Smarr’s story
illustrates that with data from monitoring one’s health, a person can be
warned, and therefore, armed against serious health threats.
In my ARJ article on
migraine management as action research, I give implicit assent to Smarr’s
primary assertion and to an ancient Greek directive to know oneself. In the
first-person, managing a chronic health condition is action research. The
person who suffers is an expert about the health condition and the suffering
that goes along with it. This person may choose to welcome second-person
collaborations with family, friends, and healthcare professionals. Beyond the
realm of one’s social interactions, third-person resources can also be helpful.
Ultimately, managing one’s life can be perceived as ongoing cycles of Participatory
Action Research, whereby a person engages others in order to stay well and be
his or her optimal self.
In Participatory Action
Research, it is vital to engage in analyses that expose one’s action logics to
scrutiny. It can lead a person to eschew inauthentic acts and thoughts in favor
of authentic ones.
As a psychologist,
researcher, and a person with a disability from a chronic health condition, I’m
interested in others’ views on this topic. Are the types of self-scrutiny that
I describe and that Smarr evidences indicative of well-being? Or, is it plain
old narcissism?
I look forward to your thoughts and comments.
Lauren S. Seifert
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