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Understanding theory in health communication is also directly related to comprehension of the “generative tensions” underlying the study of health communication (Babrow and Mattson 2011, p. 19). One of these tensions focuses upon the interplay of the body and communication that is inherent in the biopsychosocial turn that has been key to changes in views of medicine in the last few decades. The guiding principles after the turn are: Disease shapes communication. Communication shapes disease and other aspects of health. Social and cultural factors influence all aspects of health communication. How disease is defined and the manner in which we communicate about it determine how it is treated.

A second generative tension is related to this – the opposition between science and humanism. Contrasts between the potentialities of science vs the actualization of being human epitomize this. Babrow and Mattson (2011) exemplify this tension through a discussion of death and dying. The contemporary fear of mortality is but one factor that captures and typifies this tension.

The strain between idiosyncrasy and communality characterizes the third generative tension that they identify. The contrast between ontological and holistic views of medicine makes this apparent. Finally, the experience of uncertainty and values are central to the fourth generative tension described by Babrow and Mattson (2011). This tension will be most apparent in the chapter written by Babrow, Matthias, Parsloe, and Stone (Chapter 13 in this volume), which focuses on uncertainty management theories.