Illness experience and narrative representation

¶ … 12th and 13th chapter of the book Perspective in Medical Sociology .The paper will look at the themes critically, analytically and sociologically that are found in these two chapters.

Chapter twelve is titled the genesis of chronic illness narrative and reconstruction.it starts out with the introduction of a rheumatoid arthritis patient. This disorder was diagnosed eight years back as a result of the patient having intermittent pain and swelling occurring in his joints two years ago. He has suffered a serious heart attack which added to his woes. From the way he speaks it is clear that chronic illnesses like RA result to the assault of ones sense of identity. There are also limitations in the field of medical science when it comes to delivering an explanation that is satisfactory when it comes to physical and social breakdown of such diseases. Experts have admitted that they have had limitations when it comes to the pronunciation of RA as a major medical mystery in time. The article is a bout an elucidation of styles of the modes and thoughts of cognitive organization by three people suffering from RA when it comes to making sense about this illness in their life.

Connection between work and illness

Bill, one of the patient had had a significant portion of his life disrupted. He had been a skilled machine operator but before his symptoms appeared he had been promoted to a supervisor's role. Shortly after assuming his position is when everything went wrong. His feet began swelling and he found it difficult to hold anything. He also suffered a heart attack that made his stay out of work for a month. Tests were conducted by a heart specialist but he was referred to a rheumatologist.

He associated the etiology of the disease as being induced chemically. This is because he was working with so many chemicals like acetone. Whereby, they washed their hands in it, and it was absorbed through the cuts which they had. Most people he was working with complained of their hands puffing up too. His view brings about a very significant connection between illnesses and work. After he was diagnosed with RA doctors disclaimed any interest in the hypothesis that he had about toxicity in his workplace and they went ahead to look at alternative hunches. Bill had mentioned that there was an odd coincidence of symptoms that were similar but he had taken his thinking way beyond a simple correlation that he had observed. Bill was simply invoking, unwittingly a dose response criterion which investigators take into consideration whether the disease risk increases with the exposure degree. And further examines this relation to both host and environment characteristics.

Despite the fact that doctors had no interest in the hypothesis that Bill had there was something that was happening within the factory. They were having puffy hands which were something common for everyone.

Inheritance

He had been questioned by many people on his background and it was found that his mother had arthritis, and his little sister had rheumatism. From a clinical perspective it is acceptable to say that inheritance was a strong case for the acceptance of the explanation in the light of genetic transfusion.in rheumatological circles viral and genetic hypothesis are what are receiving serious and sustained attention. However Bill was not satisfied with this, he suffered a joint trouble during the time of his training in the military service. When he talked about his life in the service he was suggesting that he was strong enough and thus could not be in a position of contacting any inherited weakness. He claimed that any inner predisposition would clearly have been manifested sooner. Secondly, he claimed he had no symptoms during his time in service. Therefore he thought that it was unlikely for the activities in the service to have caused a physical vulnerability. However from the interview Bill was not certain about his health state in the service. When it comes to service like a workplace, it is clear that according to Bill the body is defined through how it relates to the world of social action as opposed to the isolation from it. However, the medical field lacks no sensible meaning when it comes to his perspective. His pragmatism would not allow him to accept that the medical mode was valid which appeared to be resting on an image of biological arbitrariness.

Injustice in the society

The tenacity of Bill's hypothesis of workplace toxins takes a clear significance when it comes to other experiences which together form the narrative reconstruction of the illness genesis that carries a political image of the social world. When it comes to both the illness and the response to it there is the suggestion that there is a world power inequality. Lot of Bill's account highlights some injustices and the world was portrayed as an environment where ordinary people were exploited manipulated and conned by some social powers including doctors, police or bureaucrats.

Reconstruction of social psychology

Bill's reconstruction left out references of his identity as he did not portray any sense of his self-identity. He did not bring out any sense of personal responsibility or any socio-psychological involvement when it comes to the development of his affliction. Social relations are a place where social identity can be developed and constrained, natured or even broken. Gill another RA patient was a school teacher who had suffered the illness for the pat five years.

Stress

Gill identified stress as an etiological factor. This was among the most popular factors especially when it came to women. The discourse of stress has been entrenched firmly in the modern way of thinking when it comes to disease and illness.in many cases however stress is left unspecified. Gill highlighted that her stress came from being a mother and a wife. She did not conceptualize stress as a factor caused by external stressors, exogenous agents that impinge upon the body in arbitrary fashion. She says that her illness was as a result of the bodily suppression of herself.

Transcendence of causality

Situations exist where the central meaning of life can be defined as the transcendent principle .God is a very powerful feature in the cosmology of individuals and his existence can be adduced as a reason why illnesses and misfortunes occur. Where God is the cause individuals might be liberated from burdens of narrative reconstruction and at the same time a casual analysis and they are left free for them to take part in lyrical sensibility. Betty was in her early sixties, married and worked both full and part time jobs. He had suffered from arthritis for the past seven years. She did not lead a comfortable life and had to work hard so as to supplement the low wage her husband was getting. Instead of her acknowledging that her arthritis was as a result of the mysterious works of God she goes ahead to give a different story. She claims that her attitude to her illness within the justification framework which had been called forth on some occasions by those who were nonbelievers. Her biographical robustness, narrative order and the personal stories were not contingent upon what had happened to her world.as a matter of fact the idea of vulnerable and separate personal stories would make little sense when it comes to the context of her relationship with God's purpose.