Pain is the most frequent cause of disability in America. And pain
specialists estimate that as many as thirty to sixty million Americans
suffer from chronic pain. Chronic pain is a complex phenomenon--often
extremely difficult to treat, and surprisingly difficult to define.
Just as medical literature in general neglects the experience of
illness, so the clinical literature on pain neglects the experience of
pain. Camp Pain takes an approach different from most studies of
chronic pain, which are typically written from a medical or social
perspective. Based on a year's fieldwork in a pain treatment center,
this book focuses on patients' perspectives--on their experiences of
pain, what these experiences mean to them, and how this meaning is
socially constructed.
Jackson explores the psychological burden imposed on many sufferers when
they are judged not to have real pain, and by harsh moral judgments that
sufferers are weak, malingering, or responsible in some way for their
pain. Jackson also looks at the ways in which severe pain erodes and
destroys personal identity, studying in particular the role of language.
While keeping her focus on patients' experiences, Jackson explores
Western concepts of disease, health, mind, and body; assumptions about
cause and effect; and notions of shame, guilt, and stigma. Camp Pain
does not attempt to resolve the uncertainties and misperceptions
associated with pain but rather aims at enhancing our understanding of
the wider implications of chronic pain by focusing on the sufferers
themselves.
