My Discomfort

In this chapter I investigate some ethical dilemmas that arose during a research project in which I interviewed fifteen women who were receiving disability payments because they suffered from chronic pain syndrome. I carried out this pilot study several years ago when I was working at the Institute of Preventive Medicine at the University of Oslo. My medical colleagues were concerned about why several women had been put on disability pension at a relatively young age due to a condition whose cause nobody seemed able to establish. ¹ In addition to their high level of pain, these female patients exhibited symptoms of insomnia and constant fatigue as well as body and muscle stiffness. ² The doctors admitted that they did not have the necessary tools to give these women proper treatment, and their discomfort was diagnosed as ‘diffuse’ or ‘undetermined’. This diagnosis had serious consequences for several of these patients, most of whom were subsequently treated with scepticism and often described by their doctors as neurotic, hypochondriac and/or difficult (Werner and Malterud 2003). Moreover, the lack of a positive diagnosis meant that they were not granted disability payments or other benefits to which they were entitled.