Trajectory of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in Six Patients: A Roller-Coaster Ride

Ruth Ellen Dubin

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Trajectory of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in Six Patients: A Roller-Coaster Ride

In: At the Edge of Being: The Aporia of Pain

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Ruth Ellen Dubin

Ruth Ellen Dubin
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 47–64

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399228_005

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The diagnosis of chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is based entirely on patient self-report unlike conditions such as diabetes or multiple sclerosis. Objective tests, the sine qua non of the medical model, are not widely known outside of specialty clinics. Canadian family physicians are poorly trained to deal with this common and debilitating condition. A graphic representation of the major themes raised during primary care visits in six CNCP patients followed in my general practice for 6 to 22 years illustrates that ‘pain’ visits involve themes of depression, conflict with employers, insurers or lawyers, and financial concerns. Physicians, insurers, lawyers and employers may be contributing to patients’ pain and disability by adopting a disbelieving and confrontational approach to CNCP sufferers. Terms such as ‘functional,’ ‘somatisation,’ ‘malingerer,’ ‘catastrophiser’ or ‘drug-seeker,’ allow professionals to separate themselves from and stigmatise their clients. This chapter will present the chronic pain trajectory as a roller-coaster ride which engulfs the patient, family, employers, insurers and medical care-givers alike. Avoiding this destructive path requires a shift from the medico-legal models (purely scientific, allowing only objective findings) to ones that incorporate both patient empowerment and an expanded understanding of the pain experience.

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At the Edge of Being: The Aporia of Pain

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004399228

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 26 Sep 2012

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - Ethics & Moral Philosophy
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

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Trajectory of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in Six Patients: A Roller-Coaster Ride

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At the Edge of Being: The Aporia of Pain

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