In this study, we take speech and writing as means for discourse construction, highlighting the reasons for converting them into objects for analysis, and we present different instruments for doing this. We emphasize the importance of discourse analysis for the development of health studies, since it allows interpretation of the reality from a text or texts and shows the subjects of the production and the interpretation of these subjects, along with the context of their production. Historically constructed contradictions, continuities and disruptions that make discourse a social practice are described. We consider discourse analysis to be a way of picking up the implied meaning in speech and writing, and thus a further way to approach the health-illness process. The aim of this reflection was to incorporate discourse analysis into the health field, thereby emphasizing this method as a rich contribution from Social Sciences.
Discourse analysis; Health-illness process; Health research