Psychosocial metaphors of physical distress among MS patients

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics between chronic illness and culture and analyzes how a person's expressions of chronic illness are culturally constituted. The analysis focuses on the ways physical symptoms among multiple sclerosis patients are expressed and experienced as psychosocial problems. The process of transforming a biological construct into a social one is discussed. These transformations are explored through the doctor/patient transaction and the solidification of psychosocial problems among MS patients during their interaction with their 'significant others' and then transferred to their larger social-cultural sphere.