She Has a Pain Problem, Not a Pill Problem

Chronic Pain Management, Stigma, and the Family—An Autoethnography

Bibliographic Data

ID11230679
AuthorsLoren Wilbers (University of South Florida, corresponding author), Loren E Wilbers (University of South Florida)
Year2015
Volume39
Issue1
Pages86-111
Publication date2015-02-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHumanity & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0160-5976 • E-ISSN: 2372-9708
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0160597614555979
OpenAlexW2322602089
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited37

People with chronic noncancer pain who rely on prescription opioid painkillers for treatment experience stigmatization, both within and outside of the health care system, which hinders their ability to achieve adequate pain relief. This barrier to appropriate treatment affects not only individual patients but their families as well. In this article, I provide an autoethnographic account of my experience as the daughter of a mother with severe chronic pain who manages her condition with prescription opioid painkillers. Through personal narrative, I explore how I, and members of my family, experience and interpret barriers my mom faces in accessing effective treatment, and how even now, over a decade after my mom’s pain started, the stigma surrounding prescription opioids continues to permeate every facet of our lives

Chronic pain · Daughter · Medical prescription · Narrative · Opioid · Pill · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Medicine · Nursing · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment · Pain Management and Opioid Use · Pain Management and Placebo Effect · Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub