/women-and-the-treatment-of-pain.html

  • Women and the Treatment of Pain - NYTimes.com
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/women-and-the-treatment-of-pain.html?src=un

    Pain conditions are a particularly good example of the interplay between sex (our biological and chromosomal differences) and gender (the cultural roles and expectations attributed to a person). In 2011, the Institute of Medicine published a report on the public health impact of chronic pain, called “Relieving Pain in America.” It found that not only did women appear to suffer more from pain, but that women’s reports of pain were more likely to be dismissed.

    This is a serious problem, because pain is subjective and self-reported, and diagnosis and treatment depend on the assumption that the person reporting symptoms is beyond doubt.

    The oft-cited study “The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain” found that women were less likely to receive aggressive treatment when diagnosed, and were more likely to have their pain characterized as “emotional,” “psychogenic” and therefore “not real.”

    Instead of appropriate care for physical pain, this can lead to treatment for mental health issues that might not even exist.