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Article ID: CBB762858243

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

Hyrkäs, Eve-Riina (Author)

European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health
Volume: 78
Issue: 1
Pages: 128-154
Publication date: 2021

DOI: 10.1163/26667711-bja10004

URI: https://brill.com/view/journals/ehmh/78/1/article-p128_128.xml

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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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