title: 'Betwixt and between'; liminality in recovery stories from people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
abstract: This paper explores experiences of 16 people claiming to have recovered from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) using the concept of liminality. Liminality describes the status of those falling between socially recognised and medically sanctioned categories, and illuminates both the experience of illness and the process of recovery from ME/CFS. The liminality experienced during illness was akin to that described by Turner with a degree of communitas among sufferers. As recovery progressed, participants stressed the percentage to which they had improved, and compared themselves with peers and themselves prior to the illness. Recovery did not mean transition into a post-liminal phase, but involved a new liminality, characterised by straddling boundaries between illness and wellness. Participants continued strategies such as rest, pacing and meditation. This second liminal state included difficulty in communicating the experience convincingly, and estrangement from the ME/CFS community. Thus, recoverees moved from the liminality of illness to a second, and less legible state of sustained liminality in recovery, described as having one foot in the ill world, one foot in the well world. This suggests that more needs to be understood about the recovery experience to assist those making the transition toward wellness.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, UK.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, UK.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huszar
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, UK.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chapman
mesh_terms: D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012649:Self Concept
keywords: 
  CFS
  ; 
  ME
  ; illness behaviour; illness experience; liminality; normality; recovery