The article centres around the concept and meaning of narratives in medicine. It provides an overview over illness narratives and their relation to concepts and goals of narrative medicine. Narrative medicine is defined as a patient-centred form of medical practice. Epistemological, structural and functional properties of narratives and the role of narrative in doctor-patient-interaction are described. Interdisciplinary research on illness narratives, narratives in medical ethics, narrative forms of therapy and a database of patients' experiences on the web are introduced.