title: Psychosocial metaphors of physical distress among MS patients.
abstract: This paper explores the dynamics between chronic illness and culture and analyzes how a person's expressions of chronic illness are culturally constituted. The analysis focuses on the ways physical symptoms among multiple sclerosis patients are expressed and experienced as psychosocial problems. The process of transforming a biological construct into a social one is discussed. These transformations are explored through the doctor/patient transaction and the solidification of psychosocial problems among MS patients during their interaction with their 'significant others' and then transferred to their larger social-cultural sphere.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012649:Self Concept; D012803:Sick Role; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology