Medicalization and Contested Illnesses

Dew, Kevin; Scott, Anne; Kirkman, Allison

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-31508-9_8

Cited by 4 publications

References 47 publications

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Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia: Disagreement Between Fibromyalgia Criteria and Clinician‐Based Fibromyalgia Diagnosis in a University Clinic

Wolfe

Schmukler

Jamal

et al. 2019

Arthritis Care & Research

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ObjectiveRecent studies have suggested that fibromyalgia is inaccurately diagnosed in the community, and that ~75% of persons reporting a physician diagnosis of fibromyalgia would not satisfy published criteria. To investigate possible diagnostic misclassification, we compared expert physician diagnosis with published criteria.MethodsIn a university rheumatology clinic, 497 patients completed the Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire (MD‐HAQ) and the 2010 American College of Rheumatology preliminary diagnostic criteria modified for self‐administration during their ordinary medical visits. Patients were evaluated and diagnosed by university rheumatology staff.ResultsOf the 497 patients, 121 (24.3%) satisfied the fibromyalgia criteria, while 104 (20.9%) received a clinician International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnosis of fibromyalgia. The agreement between clinicians and criteria was 79.2%. However, agreement beyond chance was only fair (κ = 0.41). Physicians failed to identify 60 criteria‐positive patients (49.6%) and incorrectly identified 43 criteria‐negative patients (11.4%). In a subset of 88 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the kappa value was 0.32, indicating slight to fair agreement. Universally, higher polysymptomatic distress scores and criteria‐based diagnosis were associated with more abnormal MD‐HAQ clinical scores. Women and patients with more symptoms but fewer pain areas were more likely to receive a clinician's diagnosis than to satisfy fibromyalgia criteria.ConclusionThere is considerable disagreement between ICD clinical diagnosis and criteria‐based diagnosis of fibromyalgia, calling into question ICD‐based studies. Fibromyalgia criteria were easy to use, but problems regarding clinician bias, meaning of a fibromyalgia diagnosis, and the validity of physician diagnosis were substantial.

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Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia: Disagreement Between Fibromyalgia Criteria and Clinician‐Based Fibromyalgia Diagnosis in a University Clinic

Wolfe

Schmukler

Jamal

et al. 2019

Arthritis Care & Research

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Mothering and Mental Health Care: Moral Sense-Making Among Mexican-American Mothers of Adolescents in Treatment

Seligman

2024

Cult Med Psychiatry

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Disease mongering, overdiagnosis, and media practices: a critical discourse analysis of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and the motivational deficiency disorder (MoDeD) spoof

Heaney,

Riboni

2024

Text &Amp; Talk

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This paper explores ways in which the strategic use of discursive and generic conventions has the potential to create a non-existent pathology and mislead the public. This case study compares and examines datasets of different genres (newspaper issue reports, online videos, and Wikipedia pages) dealing with a condition considered as an actual illness (Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, SCT), and another (Motivational Deficiency Disorder, MoDeD), invented as a spoof to raise awareness about disease mongering, overdiagnosis, and medicalization. We evince common language strategies that, irrespective of the genre, can be employed in media discourse, both in the name of genuine medical information and in pursuit of more ethically questionable ends. The methodological tools provided by Critical Discourse Analysis are applied to both the authentic and the hoax texts in order to investigate the media representations of SCT and MoDeD, juxtaposing the ways in which both are framed conceptually, defined linguistically, and popularized to lay audiences. The findings indicate the existence of a common repertoire of lexical-phraseological, rhetorical and discursive patterns that typify the popularization of medicalized statuses and combine to increase the persuasiveness and authority of overdiagnosis, ultimately advancing the case for medicalization with the public at large.

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Medicalization and Contested Illnesses

Cited by 4 publications

References 47 publications

Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia: Disagreement Between Fibromyalgia Criteria and Clinician‐Based Fibromyalgia Diagnosis in a University Clinic

Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia: Disagreement Between Fibromyalgia Criteria and Clinician‐Based Fibromyalgia Diagnosis in a University Clinic

Mothering and Mental Health Care: Moral Sense-Making Among Mexican-American Mothers of Adolescents in Treatment

Disease mongering, overdiagnosis, and media practices: a critical discourse analysis of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and the motivational deficiency disorder (MoDeD) spoof

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