Article
ID: CBB762858243

Psychosomatic Pain? The Meanings of Musculoskeletal Affliction in Finnish Medicine, ca. 1950–2000 (2021)

unapi
Mind and body Psychosomatic medicine Human body Disabilities; disability; accessibility Biomedicine Disease and diseases Pain 21st century 20th century, late Finland

Abstract In recent decades, pain has received extensive attention from historians. However, the boundary work between organic and psychogenic pain has been less studied. To address the mind–body problem in the history of pain, this article examines how Finnish physicians in the latter half of the twentieth century have applied the psychosomatic framework to three painful conditions: rheumatoid arthritis, chronic backache and fibromyalgia. Through the interrelated case studies, it is argued that the medical discussion on musculoskeletal pain reflected social and economic interests and values that evolved in the course of the twentieth century. The psychogenic illness explanation compelled physicians to step outside the confines of biomedical rationale. Therefore, the descriptions of the ‘mind’ behind the ‘body’ render conspicuous for historians the values, moral norms and social expectations that underlie biomedicine.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB762858243/

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Authors & Contributors
Dickson, Melissa
Riikka Homanen
Tsay, Alice
Schlicht, Laurens
Blayney, Steffan
Myllykangas, Mikko
Journals
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Gender and History
Mefisto: Rivista di medicina, filosofia, storia
Victorian Studies
Social Studies of Science
Social History of Medicine
Publishers
University of Maryland, College Park
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Ohio University Press
Manchester University Press
Duke University Press
Cornell University Press
Concepts
Disease and diseases
Biomedicine
Human body
Disabilities; disability; accessibility
Pain
Nosology; classification of diseases
People
Lee-Hamilton, Eugene
Baudelaire, Charles
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century
Medieval
19th century
15th century
Places
United States
Finland
France
South Korea
Uganda
England
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