Chronicling the chronic: narrating the meaninglessness of chronic pain

Abstract

This article proposes a way of narrating chronic pain: the telling of a chronicle. Recent work in the medical humanities has been critical of traditional approaches to illness narratives. In line with this criticism, we argue that the experience of chronic pain resists internally coherent, plot-driven—in other words, Aristotelian—narrative. Drawing on phenomenological studies, we state that chronic pain is an utterly meaningless experience due to its relentless continuation over time. It therefore defies any narrative search for a higher meaning or purpose as well as the search for a coherent and progressive ‘plot’. However, we reject the idea that chronic pain could therefore only be captured in the form of a meaningless, unshareable and chaotic anti-narrative. Instead, we propose that chronic pain could be borne witness to through the speech act of chronicling—an ongoing telling about ongoing suffering. Building on work of contemporary philosophers Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy, we examine what the chronicle entails by touching on three themes: time, meaning, and the body. First, we argue that chronicling allows people to bear witness to chronic pain’s purposeless continuation over time, thereby affirming the utter meaninglessness of the experience. Second, we argue that it is precisely in the affirmation of this meaninglessness that a different kind of meaning can be experienced: a meaning which cannot be detached from the sensory experience of telling and listening itself. Third, we examine how chronicling chronic pain could allow the muted and painful body to once again meaningfully express itself to others.

“It is difficult for us to treat their pain”. Health professionals’ perceptions of Somali pastoralists in the context of pain management: a conceptual model

“…We believed that the nurses’ narratives could provide a deeper level of understanding pastoralists’ pain as a result of their caring role and the time they spend with pastoralist patients and their affected families. In addition, their attitudes towards patients with pain can add another layer of understanding of a health problem that seems to defy logical narratives that are familiar to us in the context of illness experience ( van Hout, van Rooden, and Slatman 2022 ).…”

Incorporating personal narratives in positive psychology interventions to manage chronic pain

“…Pain is a private, complex, organic, multidimensional experience that is idiosyncratic in nature (24,25). People living with persistent pain experience difficulties constructing meaningful explanations for their pain and suffering (26,27). People struggle to articulate their personal pain story in a way that is understood, heard, or taken seriously by others, including health care professionals (28)(29)(30)(31).…”