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The Third Presence: A Psychiatrist’s Experience of Working with Non-English Speaking Patients and Interpreters

The Cambridge Hospital, MA, USA

Communicating therapeutically with patients who do not share the same language as the clinician is a problem that is likely to increase as healthcare workers attempt to provide more and better services to immigrants and refugees. Based on participant observation, this article considers how working with patients who do not share the doctor’s language, and the ‘third presence’ of an interpreter, influence three core tasks of a healing performance: establishing a basis of trust, understanding the patient’s problems, and trying to make a difference.

Key Words: healing performance • immigrant • interpretation • interpreter • language

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