ABSTRACT
The author begins that the dominant medical cultural view often diminishes women's experiences, and examines particular concern for women who experience chronic pain problems. The official and officially taught medical worldview consists of; the basic sciences: anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, and the belief that medical science should be based upon rational, scientific, dispassionate, objective, professional judgment. It also consists of the belief that disease and its attendant suffering are ultimately to be understood in terms of pathological entities, organic in nature, and the belief that medical knowledge and skills are best organized by creating specialties around 'organ systems'. Abbey and Garfinkel point out the similarities between neurasthenia in the nineteenth century and chronic fatigue syndrome today, based on the role of the medical culture in the labeling of disease. Each developed in an era characterized by public concern about the fast pace of life and the changing role of women.
