This book looks at the relationship between health and illness, and the interplay between private and public identities.

David Kelleher is Reader Emeritus in the Sociology of Health at the London Metropolitan University. He has been writing and lecturing on health and illness for twenty years and, as the son of an Irish father and an English mother, describes himself as having a problematic identity.
Gerard Leavey is Assistant Director of Research and Development at Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust. His research interests include mental health services for minority ethnic communities, the interface between religious organisation and psychiatric services, and the mental health of children in schools.

Introduction 1. Identity and Illness 2. The Meaning of Cancer: Illness, Biography and Social Identity 3. Identity and Belief within Black Pentecostalism: Spiritual Encounters with Psychiatry 4. Identity and Alzheimer's Disease 5. The Irish in London: Identity and Health 6. Sport, Health and Identity: Social and Cultural Change in Disorganised Capitalism 7. Lambegs and Bodhrans: Religion, Identity and Health in Northern Ireland 8. Gay and Lesbian Identities and Mental Health 9. Life Narratives, Health and Identity Conclusion