Willful brains and absent minds: a phenomenological investigation of fear, epilepsy, and willful being

Abstract

This paper uses autoethnography as a phenomenological tool to investigate the experiences of fear and epilepsy. The author argues that fear is a critical part of a person with epilepsy’s life experience, and thus they are always existing resolutely in the world. They examine fear both as an aspect of a seizure, living with epilepsy, and in terms of stigma towards people with epilepsy. The author argues that people with epilepsy experience a profound form of Being that is fundamentally anti-institutional and disordered.