Suffering, hope and diagnosis

On the Negotiation of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4218329
AutoresLars-Christer Hydén (0000-0002-3033-9879, Stockholm University), Lisbeth Sachs (Karolinska Institutet)
Año1998
Volumen2
Número2
Páginas175-193
Fecha de publicación1998-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHealth An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1363-4593 • E-ISSN: 1461-7196
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136345939800200204
OpenAlexW1487733928
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas22
Referencias citadas29

The medical interview has a central place in the transformation of suffering into disease. The focus in this article is on patients with suspected chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Central to the diagnosis of CFS is the absence of a clear medical pathology causing symptoms. To patients it is of central importance to present themselves in the medical interview in a way that makes a diagnosis of CFS possible, which provides both hope for a cure and a social legitimization of their suffering. To doctors it is important that they maintain their position as a medical authority and gatekeeper. This means that in a medical examination the doctor and the patient together must explore the patient's suffering to define symptoms enabling a diagnosis of CFS. The central issue in this article is how doctors and patients in medical interviews negotiate symptoms and diagnostic criteria in search of a legitimate diagnosis and illness, and how this constitutes the central concern in the patient's and doctor's collaborative diagnosis work in the medical encounter

Chronic fatigue syndrome · Disease · Illness behavior · Medical illness · Medical record · Negotiation · Pathology · Psychiatry · Sociology · Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Neurology and Historical Studies · Surgery