An analysis of the phenomenon of »chronic physical invisible illness denial«

Abstract

The Interpretive Phenomenological Method (»the IPA method«) and the methodol­ogy of limited realist social constructionism were used to examine the biopsycho­social lived-experience of those who endure chronic physical invisible illness sympto­mology that remains undiagnosed throughout childhood and adolescence. For purposes of this study, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome was used as an exemplar. Within this context, a matrix was developed which synthesizes the study’s narratives with the scholarship from numerous pertinent fields in order to depict the biopsychosocial process associ­ated with invisible illness denial. By highlighting the process in this way, it is hoped that this study will prove useful in casting some light on the lived experience of chronic invisible illness, including the negative and positive adaptive avenues opened to those who develop them. Moreover, it is also hoped that by making psychotherapists and physicians more aware of their own unconscious biases against validating invisible ill­ness symptomology, the occurrence of cases of long-term undiagnosed chronic physical illness may be minimized.