Release: The acupuncture clinic as a therapeutic, health-enabling place

This paper critically reappraises the work of Wilbert Gesler (1992) on ‘therapeutic landscapes’ to explore the dual role of the acupuncture clinic as experienced by couples undergoing fertility treatment. Drawing on qualitative research in Ireland, I argue that the acupuncture clinic acts as a therapeutic space in two senses. First, the patient-acupuncturist relationship contributes to patient emotional support and wellbeing, with the clinic providing emotional sanctuary. Second, the clinic provides a therapeutic complement to allopathic approaches to fertility treatment, with the acupuncturist providing informational support which informs patient decision-making and, in some cases, arguably contributing to the treatment itself. In exploring the therapeutic and health-enabling importance of the acupuncture clinic, this paper adds important qualitative depth to an aspect of assisted reproduction that has become an essential complement to the medical process to many couples, but has arguably remained neglected in academic research.