“…At a micro level, participants describe being trapped in destructive interactions (“weekly battles with the doctor”) characterized by the “poor”, “awful”, and “dreadful” behaviours (“ridicule”) they encounter. Research on doctors’ attitudes supports these experiences: doctors express suspicion, mistrust and negative stereotyping of these patients (Anderson, Jason, Hlavaty, Porter, & Cudia, 2012; Åsbring & Närvänen, 2003; Donalek, 2009; Raine, Carter, Sensky, & Black, 2004), characterize them as unmotivated and pessimistic (Guise, McVittie, & McKinlay, 2010), and sometimes label them as hypochondriacs (Schoofs, Bambini, Ronning, Bielak, & Woehl, 2004). At a meso level, participants depict being trapped in a system that cannot or will not help them (“treatment … is so poor”), a “holding pattern” against which they are “fighting an uphill battle”.…”