The Burden of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Tolerating the Uncertainty

Abstract

All living requires tolerating a considerable amount of uncertainty — to state this is to state the obvious. But a study of the victims of rheumatoid arthritis provides an insight into the demands placed upon living when uncertainty is exaggerated beyond the usual level of toleration. This paper examines the disease conditions which produce variable uncertainty. It then analyzes the strategies arthritics develop in order to tolerate this uncertainty … The ultimate social-psychological tyranny of tolerating the uncertainty lies in balancing [the use of these strategies] one against the other. Compounding this is the additional problem of balancing drug side effects against relief. This burden of balancing limited options is examined at the conclusion of the paper.

Reprinted in part from Carolyn L. Wiener (1975) “The burden of rheumatoid arthritis: tolerating the uncertainty”, Social Science and Medicine, 9: 97–104, with the permission of the publishers and the author.