The Fibromyalgia Story: Medical Authority and Women's Worlds of Pain [Paperback]

Kristin K. Barker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005 | ISBN-10: 1592131611 | ISBN-13: 978-1592131617 | Edition: 1

More than six million Americans - most of them women - have been diagnosed with the controversial medical disorder fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). Because of the absence of definitive physiological markers, a well-understood cause, or effective treatment, FMS is controversial. Many have questioned if FMS is a "real" illness or if women sufferers are modern-day hysterics. Amidst the controversy, millions of women live with their very real symptoms. Rather than taking sides in the heated FMS debate, Kristin Barker explains how FMS represents an awkward union between the practices of modern medicine and the complexity of women's pain. Using interviews with sufferers, Barker focuses on how the idea of FMS gives meaning and order to women beset by troubling symptoms, self-doubt, and public skepticism. This book offers a fresh look at a controversial diagnosis, avoids overly simplistic explanations, and empathizes with sufferers without losing sight of medicine's power over our lives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This clearly written book.[is] exhaustively researched." The American Journal of Sociology "important...[it] offers much for scholars of many disciplines who seek to understand the experience of pain, and to cast mind-body duality in a modern light...[a] well-written exposition on the preconceptions of highly disparate academic traditions." The New England Journal of Medicine "There is much to admire about this book manuscript - I commend the author for tackling a difficult subject and treating it so deftly and insightfully." Elizabeth Armstrong "The sociologist, Kristin K. Barker, scrutinizes the medical making of a disease...This is a really good book about why biomedicine is not good enough when judged according to its most noble mandate: to alleviate human suffering." - The Permanente Journal, Fall 2008

From the Publisher

The first unbiased assessment of fibromyalgia --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press; 1 edition (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592131611
• ISBN-13: 978-1592131617
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fibromyalgia patients and their doctors: toward understanding each other., January 11, 2006

By 

William Southworth (Ashland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fibromyalgia Story: Medical Authority and Women's Worlds of Pain (Paperback)

Now that I am retired from 35 years as a medical doctor (Internal Medicine), I often reflect on what people believe about medicine and illness, and the process by which those beliefs change. As I approached the final years of my career I sought relief from the responsibilities of primary care by limiting my work to disability examinations on those seeking benefits from the Social Security Administration or workers compensation insurers. It was here that I finally found time, free from other distractions, to listen at length to the stories of individuals with diagnoses of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, and other problems loosely termed "functional somatic syndromes" in the medical literature. I also examined them and reviewed voluminous medical records. Dr. Barker's account of the subjective experiences of the individuals she interviewed for this book resonates with, and makes clearer, the stories that I heard and described in my reports.

In my earlier medical practice, individuals with these problems were difficult and often frustrating to care for because their needs were so great and there seemed so little to offer them from available conventional treatments. On occasion, attempts to relieve their discomfort with pain medications led to substance abuse. One faces the task of distinguishing from among persons with broad arrays of somatic symptoms those individuals who have occult organic illnesses of a more immediately threatening nature, such as cancer or multiple sclerosis. The physician must also be alert for complicating psychiatric problems and for those who simulate symptoms to achieve secondary gain. But once these other problems are excluded by medical investigation, it does not mean that "nothing is wrong," as fibromyalgia patients are often led to believe. Their testimony is often the most significant evidence of their illness, since objectively verifiable signs (verifiable by the examiner, of course) are usually lacking or inconclusive.

My educational background prior to my medical training was in engineering. Needless to say, I lacked any exposure to sociology, much less to the concept that illnesses are in part "socially constructed." I recognize now that this was not a trivial deficiency. I highly recommend this book for primary care physicians, rheumatologists, physiatrists, neurologists, and other "evidence-based" specialists likely to care for individuals with fibromyalgia. It should assist health care providers to interact not only with fibromyalgia patients, but with all sufferers from whatever cause, in a more constructive and empathetic way. Fibromyalgia sufferers will gain a more in-depth understanding of their illness, and should find themselves on stronger ground to understand and communicate with their doctors.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Scholarly Examination of the Social Construction of Medical Authority, July 21, 2005

By 

anon (Nonexistent, RS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fibromyalgia Story: Medical Authority and Women's Worlds of Pain (Paperback)

This is a highly recommended book, mostly due to its aggressive and thorough examination of FMS as a prime example of the power bestowed to medical authority in Western culture. Whether you believe FMS exists or not, you should buy and read this book.

The social construction of reality is a pervasive and powerful concept that shapes every individual's existence--this book provides excellent scholarly analysis of one prime example of the disconnect between individuals' perceptions of reality, while simultaneously illustrating how medicine (and more generally, "scientific knowledge"), even when unable to produce the evidence necessary by its own standards to be unequivocal on an issue, trumps the experienced reality of millions.

The theoretical position outlined in this book, backed up with solid historical evidence and extensive interviews, is easily extrapolated to other medical "conditions," daily occurences, gender and cultural roles, wars in the middle east for oil, etc.--I hope that as many people as possible are able to get a copy of this book and mull over the propositions.

Awesome work Dr. Kristin Barker.