Making Sense of Illness Science, Society and Disease [Hardcover]

This 1998 book contains historical essays about how diseases change their meaning.In Making Sense of Illness Robert Aronowitz offers historical essays about how diseases change their meaning. Each of the diseases or etiologic hypotheses in this book has had a controversial and contested history: psychosomatic views of ulcerative colitis, twentieth century chronic fatigue syndromes, Lyme disease, angina pectoris, risk factors for coronary heart disease, and the type A hypothesis. By juxtaposing the history of the different diseases, the author shows how values and interests have determined research programs, public health activities, clinical decisions, and the patient's experience of illness.In Making Sense of Illness Robert Aronowitz offers historical essays about how diseases change their meaning. Each of the diseases or etiologic hypotheses in this book has had a controversial and contested history: psychosomatic views of ulcerative colitis, twentieth century chronic fatigue syndromes, Lyme disease, angina pectoris, risk factors for coronary heart disease, and the type A hypothesis. By juxtaposing the history of the different diseases, the author shows how values and interests have determined research programs, public health activities, clinical decisions, and the patient's experience of illness.Making Sense of Illness is a fascinating investigation into the social and clinical factors that determine what constitutes a legitimate illness in the twentieth century. By examining six case studies of diseases that have emerged within the past fifty years--from what we now consider to be straightforward diseases such as coronary heart disease, to the currently widely-debated Chronic Fatigue Syndrome--Aronowitz examines the historical and cultural factors that influence how doctors think about illness; how illnesses are recognized, named, classified, and finally, what they mean in an individual and social context. The choices that are available to the invlƒ#