From a lived body to a medicalized body: diagnostic transformation and chronic fatigue syndrome.
This paper addresses the diagnostic dilemma posed by chronic illness that offers no demonstrable evidence of serious physical disorders or pathology. Is a diagnosis such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) disabling because it encourages people to identify with it? Does it become a self-fulfilling prophecy? In providing people with a name, and thus allowing them to confirm the legitimacy of their suffering, a diagnosis of CFS may help them to relate to their world and, hence, facilitate their recovery. One of the most relevant questions pertaining to a diagnosis of CFS concerns how people deal with suffering when it does not come with a biomedically established pathology. I draw upon material provided by 21 men and women diagnosed with CFS. My analysis concerns the ambivalence involved in the diagnostic process and its implications for the relationship between self-identity and chronicity.
Sachs
L
L
Department of Communication Studies, Linköping University, Sweden. lisbeth.sachs@swipnet.se
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012649:Self Concept; D020377:Self Efficacy