Making Sense of Illness

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A fascinating investigation into the social and clinical factors that determine what constitutes a "Legitimate" illness in the 20th century. By examining six case studies of diseases that have emerged within the past 50 years, Dr. Robert Aronowitz looks at how doctors think about illness; how illnesses are recognized, named, classified; and what they mean in an individual and social context. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Introduction; 2. The rise and fall of the psychosomatic hypothesis in ulcerative colitis; 3. From myalgic encephalitis to yuppie flu: a history of chronic fatigue syndrome; 4. Lyme disease: the social construction of a new disease and its social consequences; 5. From the patient's angina pectoris to the cardiologist's coronary heart disease; 6. The social construction of coronary heart disease risk factors; 7. The rise and fall of the type A hypothesis; 8. Conclusion.