Chronic Pain and Illness in the Modern Age: States of Privilege and Bodies of Abuse i THEODORA DANYLEVICH THEODORA DANYLEVICH CHRONIC PAIN AND ILLNESS IN THE MODERN AGE: STATES OF PRIVILEGE AND BODIES OF ABUSE (original) (raw)
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Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom …, 2011
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Throughout the history of medical sociology, social scientific study of chronic conditions has taken two major directions: epidemiological studies of specific populations in relation to disease and analyses of the experience of illness, the primary focus of this chapter. In the sociological literature, disease and illness are neither interchangeable nor equivalent. Disease is the undesirable biological process or state affecting the individual, and illness is the person's experience of the disease, including its social and psychological impacts. Just as disease may be unrecognized and unfelt (see Conrad 1987: 2), deeply disturbing symptoms may arise without being diagnosed as a disease, even in the absence of perceivable organic causes. To study illness, then, is to study human experience without reference to organic causes, although it may include lay understandings of these causes and the experience of diagnosing them. To an extent, these directions of inquiry reflect Robert Straus's (1957) distinction between a sociology in medicine and a sociology of medicine-a distinction that is not just heuristic but deeply political. According to Bryan Turner (1992), tensions between these two approaches are grounded in the core question of who the social-scientific study of health and illness serves: medicine itself (expanding and legitimating its existing powers) or the sociological understanding of human action. Sociology in medicine, Turner argues, is beholden to medicine's conceptual resources, concerns, and governing and funding bodies, working within these but remaining outside the ill person's experience (similarly, epidemiological studies use existing medical categories to directly serve health care professionals and policymakers). Sociologists of medicine, however, examine the nature and experience of health and illness, which medically derived categories cannot capture (see also Rosenfeld 2006a). At the same time, it remains free of the task of solving practical problems as established by medical agendas, and critically approaches the institution of medicine and its categories, assumptions, and agendas as social constructions and problematic areas of inquiry. William Cockerham (2010) has, however, critiqued the division between sociology in and sociology of medicine as overly simplistic <1> because the lines between them blur in policy research. Exploring the intriguing question of the extent to which his point applies to chronic illness goes beyond our focus here. This chapter also leaves aside the equally interesting sociological question of the social causes of the unequal distribution of chronic organic conditions; we emphasize the history and contributions of studies of the lived experience of chronic illness. <2>
"Between Health and Illness: Positive Pain and World-Formation"
Dimensions of Pain: Humanities and Social Science Perspectives (Routledge), 2013
What I understand best, which is not saying much, are my pains. (Beckett 1974: 20) The task of diminishing pain is at the centre of much biomedical research and healthcare practice. Physical pain is conventionally understood as an unpleasant sensation resulting from illness, injury, or other harmful physical contact. In most contexts, it is regarded as a problem to be overcome or managed through various curative and palliative methods. In recent decades, some of the most interesting and important phenomenological work has focused on the devastating impact of extreme pain on subjectivity. Although it is rarely examined outside of illness or injury, pain is an important feature of everyday bodily experience. In mild forms, it is near ubiquitous. In this essay, I explore the nature of pain in the context of ordinary, nonpathological bodily stresses and strainsexperiences that are commonly referred to as "aches and pains". By looking at the role of pain in what might be termed world-formation, I explore the experience of mild corporeal pain as a positive force that is crucial to the way the body experiences the world.
Qualitative Health Research
People living with chronic pain experience multiple challenges in their daily activities. Chronic pain is complex and often provokes life circumstances that create increased social isolation. Living with chronic pain during the pandemic may add additional layers of complexity to their daily lives. The researchers endeavored to explore the experiences of people living with chronic pain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews about how the pandemic influenced participants’ lives. The interviews were recorded and analyzed using an applied philosophical hermeneutics approach. The findings were feeling socially isolated, losing their sense of livinghood, and experiencing augmented stress levels which, in most cases, aggravated their chronic pain. In addition to gaining an in-depth understanding of the needs of people living with chronic pain, these findings may guide policy decisions with the intention of improving health care access and...
Chronic illness: a revisionist account
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Constructions of chronic illness
International Journal of Nursing Studies, 1998
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Chronic pain as a human rights issue: setting an agenda for preventative action
Global Health Action
Background: Historically, chronic pain has been viewed primarily as a medical issue, and research has been focused on the individual and predominantly on pain sufferers in highincome countries. Objectives: This article argues the need for a broader understanding of the context of chronic pain and its complex aetiologies and maintenance. It is suggested that the interaction between chronic pain and social context has been inadequately explored. Methods: A single case study is used of a man living in a violent urban environment in South Africa accessing a pain clinic at a tertiary hospital. Following the case-study approach, as used in the chronic traumatic stress field by Kaminer et al., the case material is utilised to develop an argument for a new research agenda. Results: Analysis of the case material demonstrates the complex interplay between bodily and psychological experiences, with chronic pain being contextually maintained and exacerbated by very difficult life circumstances, ongoing violence, and marginalisation. Conclusions: It is suggested that a research agenda be developed which explores the links between chronic pain and ongoing chronic traumatisation in contexts of continuous violence, oppression, and disempowermentcommon features of much of the contemporary majority world.