'The Elephant Man' as 'self' and 'other': the psycho-social costs of a misdiagnosis.

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)00356-x

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Article

'The Elephant Man' as 'self' and 'other': the psycho-social costs of a misdiagnosis.

Social science & medicine (1982) - 1 Jun 1995

Ablon J

Abstract excerpt

'The Elephant Man's Disease' acquired enormous notoriety through the portrayals of the life of Joseph Merrick, 'The Elephant Man', on American stage, screen and television. These portrayals, inspired by Ashley Montagu's book, The Elephant Man (1971) parleyed the designation of Merrick's condition into a household phrase, a metaphor for the grimmest extreme of ugliness. This paper explores the impact of 'The...

Topics

Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Adult
Body Image
Child
Child of Impaired Parents
Diagnostic Errors
Persons with Disabilities
Female
Humans
Life Style
Male

Methodology Data sources Editorial policy Privacy About Contact Helena Bioinformatics

Medicine in Literature

Neurofibromatosis 1

Personality Development

Phenotype

Sick Role

Social Adjustment

Source

Open in PubMed

Identifiers

PMID: 7667653
DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(94)00356-x

Provenance

PubMed metadata and Literature Corpus relationships. Corpus snapshot updated 29 Aug 2026. Prepared record publication-7667653-2026-08-29.1. Manifest publication-graph-cohort-2026-08-29.1.

Source receipt: PubMed via Helena Literature Corpus, retrieved 29 Aug 2026.

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